38 damaging blazes and counting: Vancouver firefighters grapple with busy week

This week is proving to be a busy one for Vancouver firefighters, with 38 blazes reported in the city in a matter of four days.

Vancouver Fire Rescue Services responded to four fires Sunday, 13 each on Monday and Tuesday, and at least 10 as of noon Wednesday, according to spokesperson Matthew Trudeau.

In an email to CTV News, Trudeau described Monday as an especially challenging day because four of the 13 fires were burning simultaneously.

“This stresses all areas and each team—firefighters, investigators, mechanics, fire prevention—with numerous downstream challenges,” Trudeau wrote.

Monday’s challenges prompted VFRS to release a statement, detailing eight of the 13 blazes, the following day.

According to the release, the fires kept crews busy from 9:25 a.m. Monday to 1:44 a.m. Tuesday.

They were spread throughout the city, with four in East Vancouver, and one each in Chinatown, the Granville Entertainment District, Fairview and Marpole, respectively.

Many of the fires remain under investigation, but VFRS says at least four were accidentally caused by “carelessly discarded smoker’s material related to drug use.”

Luckily, no one was injured in Monday’s fires, although three people were displaced by a second alarm fire at a home on West 16th Avenue near Arbutus Street.

Trudeau says the average number of fires with damage has increased over the past several years to about 10 per day.

Firefighters are responding to an average of 204 calls for help per day, according to a social media post by VFRS.

“This is a 10 per cent increase from last year, our busiest year on record,” the department wrote Wednesday.