For the second time this month, a driver decided to run over a fire hose while crews were battling an overnight blaze in Metro Vancouver.
Fortunately, unlike the previous incident, no one was hurt as firefighters worked to douse the flames at a heritage building beside Burnaby's Century Park early Friday morning.
But the city's acting assistant fire chief, Barry Mawhinney, said the driver's behaviour is still worrying.
"I'm very concerned about it," Mawhinney said. "If there's people in the building, you run over the hose, we lose our water supply, you're putting people's lives in danger."
The fire presented a number of challenges on its own, Mawhinney said. It broke out shortly after 5 a.m. at a building near the Burnaby Art Gallery, and police heard several small explosions before firefighters arrived.
Mawhinney said the structure is used by the city as a storage facility, and contains gas and fertilizer.
"There was some lawn equipment and things like that in the building, which probably led to the explosions earlier," he told reporters at the scene.
It doesn't appear anyone was inside when the flames broke out, and the cause of the fire has not been determined.
Last week, a Vancouver firefighter suffered extensive lower body injuries after a suspected drunk driver ran over a fire hose and dragged it down Hastings Street.
The hose tore in half and whipped across the road, knocking the firefighter over. Authorities said at the time that he was expected to require surgery.
