A preliminary investigation into what caused a massive fire at a mattress recycling warehouse in South Vancouver has found the blaze was not suspicious.

Nearly 60 firefighters from three detachments were sent to the scene to attack the blaze, which was quickly declared a three-alarm blaze Wednesday night.

Smoke could be seen as far away as Richmond, Burnaby and even North Vancouver.

Crews were forced to stay outside because it was burning so fiercely, and the building started collapsed within 30 minutes of when the fire started.

Vancouver Deputy Fire Chief Brian Godlonton said the fire spread quickly because of the volume of mattresses inside the building, as well as a number of barrels of fuel.

Fabio Scaldaferri, Mattress Recycling CEO, said he and the operations manager left the facility at 5 p.m. about 90 minutes before the fire.

The business was closed at the time and no one was inside, but around 45 staff are now out of work.

“I can’t believe this. I just can’t believe this happened,” said employee Raj Mani.

“I don’t know what to do now, where to go.”

Scaldaferri told CTV Morning Live he is looking for another warehouse to set up operations as soon as possible, because the company receives municipal recycling shipments.

Part of Marine Drive was closed so fire crews could run a hose across the busy roadway.