Photo Vancouver Fire
Fire crews are working to extinguish a fire affecting four homes in Vancouver's Strathcona neighbourhood that has closed Prior Street between Jackson and Gore.
The Prior Street exit of the Georgia Viaduct is closed. Drivers can only access the Dunsmuir and Georgia Viaducts from Main Street.
Vancouver Fire and Rescue Capt. Jonathan Gormick says they received the call just before 6 a.m. and brought 45 staff on scene to fight the three-alarm fire in the 300-block of Prior Street.
Gormick says it appears that the fire started in the abandoned home and its likely that the blaze was started by squatters.
He says firefighters were unable to gain entry to the second home because of a hoarding situation inside."Crews are waiting for heavy machinery to arrive and start pulling the structures apart to finish extinguishing the hotspots and unfortunately search for any victims."
The other two homes sustained heavy damage on the upper floors and "two families were lucky to get out alive," Gormick says.
"We're not sure if they had working smoke alarms but I was informed that one of the families was woken up by us kicking in the door to get them out. Just a quick reminder for people to make sure they have working smoke alarms," he says.
