Vancouver firefighters were busy in the early hours of July 1 battling three separate fires, one of which killed all five of one family's pets.

The pets perished in the third fire of the evening—a three-alarm blaze in a residential building on Lakewood Drive.

"This is the third major alarm tonight," John Dennis, assistant chief operations, said. "These guys [firefighters] are starting to get worn out."

Three cats, one dog and one parrot were killed in that fire, according to the homeowner who did not want to speak on camera. No people were injured, but the home was completely destroyed.

"It's frightening. It's sad," Mark Fenster, a neighbour, told CTV News. "The house was just engulfed in minutes and kept going all night long."

 

Crews were able to contain the blaze to the dwelling it started in, but the cramped street proved difficult for firetrucks to access.

"[They] managed to do a really good job of protecting the other two structures," Dennis said. "However, we've lost the middle house altogether."

The hectic night for crews started with a two-alarm residential fire on West 24th Avenue near Dunbar. Crews were able to knock it down quickly.

The second fire started in a home slated for demolition on East 6th Avenue and spread to a house under construction beside it. The fire engulfed the two buildings, and witnesses were amazed by the size of the blaze.

"The flames were at least 25-30 feet in the air," said a man who saw the fire from his home two blocks away. "It was burning hot. I was standing over here and you can feel it in your skin."

Firefighters did their best to contain the fire to the two unoccupied houses, but the house to the west of the blaze suffered enough damage that the occupants will have to be housed elsewhere, according to firefighters.

Dennis said he did not believe any of the fires were suspicious or that they were linked. Investigators were on scene overnight to determine the causes of the fires.

With files from CTV Vancouver's Alex Turner.