VANCOUVER -- Mounties in Surrey are investigating a pair of suspicious fires that occurred in their city early Thursday morning.
The first fire happened around 4 a.m., according to Battalion Chief Reo Jerome of Surrey Fire Rescue Service.
Crews were called to Ken's Auto Recycler, a business on 120 Street near 107 Avenue, for reports of decommissioned cars on fire, Jerome said.
When teams arrived, they found roughly 10 vehicles engulfed in flames. They were also met by "very angry" guard dogs, according to Jerome.
The dogs did not inhibit the firefighters' ability to attack the blaze, however, as crews set up an aerial attack to douse it in water.
Because of the potential of oil or gas still inside the vehicles and concerns about toxic fumes, the fire wasn't the type crews would have rushed into immediately, anyway, even without dogs present, Jerome said.
Shortly after crews got that fire under control, they were called to another incident outside the Home Depot store on 110 Avenue, about 1.5 kilometres away.
There, firefighters found wooden pallets ablaze at the back of the building, and the fire extended to nearby trees. That blaze was put out quickly, Jerome said.
Both fires are considered suspicious, and investigations into their causes are ongoing, police said. They did not say whether the fires are believed to be related to each other.
