Man dead after being pulled from burning East Van commercial building

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – One man has died after an intense fire in a commercial building in east Vancouver.

Crews responded to a fire at around 9:45 p.m. on Tuesday to find heavy smoke and flames that eventually came through the roof of the two-storey structure, near Commercial and Pandora.

Jonathan Gormick, public information officer with Vancouver Fire Services, says the man was found on the second floor of the building.

“Crews entered to find an unconcious male who was extricated from the building and our crews performed resuscitation efforts for some time before his death was pronounced on scene,” he says.

“It was a fairly complex fire being a two-storey, light industrial building with manufacturing inside. This was made a third alarm to bring just over 50 staff on scene at the height of the fire, due to staff being occupied with resuscitation efforts, the complexity of the building and trying to protect the surrounding properties from fire spread.”

Gormick says the fire appears to have been an accident.

“The fire investigator has determined at this time that it was accidental in nature, that it appears to have started in a mechanical or a compressor room and that this fatality was just a tragic accident,” he says.

“This gentleman appeared to be just working late, and in the wrong place at the wrong time when the fire started. Due to the age of the building it was not sprinkled, but it’s unclear if that would have saved his life.”

With files from the Canadian Press