Fire crews douse burning cars in Bellevue parkade

West Vancouver Fire and Rescue is investigating after two vehicles went up in flames in the middle of the night Monday.

The first 911 calls came in just after midnight April 17 from an apartment on the 2100 block of Bellevue Avenue.

“There were two vehicles fully involved in one of the underground parkades of the structure,” said assistant fire Chief Jeff Bush.

Bush called in 14 crew members and two engines to attack the fires and evacuate the building’s residents.

“We had a pretty quick knock-down (of the fire) but the majority of the operation, we were extracting smoke from the actual highrise structure itself,” he said.

It took about three hours before the building was safe for residents to return. One person received minor injuries from a fall during the evacuation.

The building’s concrete ceiling sustained some minor damage but the two vehicles, a Toyota Yaris and a Mercedes B200, were totally destroyed and towed away for investigation.

Finding the cause of the fires, though, will be difficult, Bush said. “I would say there are probably 50 different causes of vehicles fires. ... Sometimes you get a lack of maintenance, you get electrical issues, sometimes it’s hidden articles or pieces of paper or plastic on the road that melt or catch fire. It’s so hit and miss.”