Downtown Langley restaurant demolished after massive fire

The demolished Viva Mexico restaurant in downtown Langley is pictured on Sunday, Oct. 6. (CTV News)

All that was left of a downtown Langley restaurant Sunday was a pile of rubble behind a blue fence, after a massive fire tore through it the morning before.

After the flames were extinguished by Saturday evening, crews moved in to demolish the old building—which partially collapsed during the fire—on the Fraser Highway one-way that housed Viva Mexico restaurant.

No one was hurt in the blaze, said Langley City Fire Chief Scott Kennedy, adding nearby buildings received some smoke and water damage but were relatively unscathed.

“For us, that's a success, because although we did have a building be completely demolished, the buildings on either side are still standing and still intact,” he told CTV News Sunday.

Bob Foster, owner of Krazy Bob’s Music Emporium across the street from Viva Mexico, recalled waking up to the smell of smoke around 6:30 a.m. Saturday.

“Waking up to smoke smelling in your shop is not a good feeling,” he told CTV News Sunday.

He grabbed his dog and went outside to see what was going on.

“There were flames on the other side and then it just took off,” he said. “(Firefighters) were trying their best to save it and you just realize that this building is gone.”

Cause under investigation

What caused the fire is still under investigation, Kennedy said, an effort that will be complicated by the fact that the building is gone, meaning crews will need to rely on eyewitness accounts and any security video they can find.

In all, the fire chief says it was a “lengthy battle” involving about 40 firefighters, who arrived on scene shortly after 6:15 a.m. Saturday and didn’t leave until around 2 a.m. Sunday.

Crews initially went inside the restaurant, but the fire was “deep seated” and “fairly well-involved,” and there was concern about “structural compromise,” so firefighters were pulled out to extinguish it from the outside. Residents and shopkeepers in the area were also evacuated.

And what they were worried about did happen, Kennedy said. The front of the building collapsed, and parts of one side. Crews made the call in the late afternoon that the building would have to be demolished safely before there were more collapses.

‘We work together as a team’

Foster said the local business community is tight-knit and will come together during the difficult time.

“We just kind of care about each other, take care of each other and offer what we can,” he said.

“This community has recovered from a lot of things and changes that we are very resilient, and a lot of the people here don’t just survive, we thrive because we work together as a team.”

During the fire, several businesses posted condolences to the staff at Viva Mexico on social media.

In its own statement, the restaurant thanked customers for their support.

“We are going through a very difficult time,” the post reads. “We promise to come back stronger, with the same love for our community. Thank you for standing with us.”

“Right now everyone’s a little unsteady but we’ll get a hold and work together as a team,” Foster said.

With files from CTV News Vancouver’s Abigail Turner