A fire was reported in Maple Ridge on Monday, at around 2:30 a.m. at a house which has been previously in the news for a stabbing last month.
The Maple Ridge Fire Department responded to a call for a structure fire at around 2:30 a.m. in the 11300-block of 207th Street. The duty chief on the day of the fire, Kevin Perkin, said that when the crews arrived on scene, they observed a working fire, i.e. they could see the fire and so immediately started work on the exitinguising it. While the working fire was extinguised in about five minutes, there were still hot spots and it took the crews roughly two hours to ensure the fire was completely exhausted with no chance of reignition.
“The crews did a great job on the fire,” said Perkin, adding that they also completed a thorough primary and secondary inspection of the house to ensure no one was inside.
According to a neighbour, Kathy W., the fire broke out and lasted until the early hours of Jan. 3. The Ridge Meadows RCMP also responded to the fire. The RCMP continued to be on scene in the morning, said Kathy, adding that the house has been a problem for the past year-and-a-half.
“It seems to be really bad in the last 1.5 years but always ‘interesting’ for many years,” she said.
Last year, on Dec. 21, the police responded to a stabbing at the same house.
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According to another neighbour, everyone, including the RCMP believed that the house was empty after the stabbing incident.
The house was later taped-off and a police car was posted outside the house to maintain the integrity of the scene for the fire department to conduct their investigation.
According to Perkin, the cause of the fire is still under investigation.
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