Questions raised in empty-house fire
SURREY: Investigators worried about home washing away into creek after much of backyard swept away
An empty house in Surrey that was reportedly being prepared for demolition was heavily damaged by fire Monday morning.
The house, on the 10900-block 144th Street had homeless people staying inside last week and was also full of old furniture and refuse, according to a witness.
Investigators were unable as of Monday afternoon to enter the house and search for a cause of the fire. One thing they were worried about was the house washing away into Bon Accord Creek after much of the backyard had been swept into the creek by Monday.
A call to the Surrey Fire Service was not returned on Monday, but snow reportedly hampered efforts to extinguish the blaze, which appeared out by Monday afternoon.
The fire follows a spate of suspicious empty-house fires in Vancouver this fall. At least 28 such fires at homes waiting to be demolished have happened.
That number is more than four times the number of suspicious empty-house fires that usually occur in a year, Vancouver fire chief John McKearney said two weeks ago.
He also speculated that some of the fires may have been set accidentally by squatters or homeless people, or that perhaps some were set for insurance or to avoid new city rules that require careful deconstruction and recycling of materials at a house to be demolished.
One man was arrested after being seen fleeing a burning empty home in Point Grey on Nov. 20. Jonathan Lewis Duroucher, 38, was charged the next day with arson causing property damage. Police were looking into his background to see if he might be tied to other suspicious fires in Vancouver. A check by Postmedia of the man’s provincial court records showed Durocher has appeared in court at least two dozens times since 2014 in Vancouver, Richmond and North Vancouver.