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Razed condos will be rebuilt, developer vows
Surrey North Delta Leader
3-alarm fire guts Whalley condo development
By Ryan Starr - Surrey North Delta Leader
Published: October 01, 2008 4:00 PM
Updated: October 02, 2008 4:37 PM
A three-alarm fire gutted a building at the Quattro development in Whalley Wednesday, sending clouds of thick black smoke into the air that were visible across the Lower Mainland.
"It was quite the fire. It was fully involved," said Marco Carnello, who was working at his law office on E. Whalley Ring Road when the blaze broke out just before 4 p.m. at the property along 138 Street near 107A Avenue.
"Now it's just smoke – it burned itself out. I mean these were roaring flames. We were able to stand on our balcony and have a look at it."
"There's no doubt the whole thing is gone," Carnello added. "These were huge, huge flames."
A crane was also caught up in flames.
"It's still standing," Carnello said. "We were thinking it might melt and fall."
Power was cut off to about 4,400 homes in the area and service to many homes was still out on Thursday morning.
This is the second blaze at this location in the past two days.
On Monday afternoon, a smaller fire, which officials called "suspicious," was set on the first level of the same four-storey building at 13789 107A Ave.
The fire – started using paper in the framed structure of a corner bathroom – was extinguished by site personnel before it caused any major damage.
Quattro is a six-phase, 10-acre residential apartment project.
In February 2007, building one of Quattro's first phase sold out in four hours.
In May of this year, building two of the development – 116 apartment suites worth $23 million – sold out in under four hours.
Almost 10,000 people have registered for the third building.
Contacted shortly after 5 p.m. Wednesday, Randy Albertson, who witnessed the fire, said only smoke remains.
"Flames were shooting up – easily the height of the building," he said. "The building is gutted."
Fire crews were extinguishing hot spots late into Wednesday night and were continuing to do so Thursday morning.
Fire investigators and the RCMP will be at the site Thursday to determine what happened and how.
Calls to Quattro developer, Tien Sher Group of Companies, were not immediately returned Wednesday.
A press conference is scheduled for Thursday morning.
rstarr@surreyleader.com
Photo slideshow by Evan Seal / The Leader
