National

Large, smoky fire extinguished in Metro Vancouver, air quality bulletin to be lifted

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 21 Jun, 2024 10:03 AM

The Metro Vancouver Regional District says a fire at a trestle bridge in Richmond, B.C., has been extinguished after sending up huge plumes of smoke that prompted an air quality bulletin for the region.

The district says in an update on the social media platform X that air quality has now improved and it will issue an update to end the bulletin.

The district's air quality map shows the area around the now-extinguished blaze near the Oak Street Bridge on the north arm of the Fraser River is ranked at level two of 10, indicating "low risk."

Richmond Fire-Rescue said earlier Friday that crews had put out the warehouse portion of the industrial fire that broke out near River Rock Casino.

At the time, they were still working to extinguish flames on the trestle bridge at the boundary between Richmond and Vancouver.

The province's driver information system, DriveBC, indicates the Oak Street Bridge is now open in both directions after the fire forced its closure Thursday night.

Vancouver International Airport says its operations are not affected, but it encourages passengers to plan ahead and allow extra time to reach the airport.

A fire in Richmond is currently affecting traffic on the Oak Street Bridge. Operations at YVR are not impacted.
We encourage passengers to plan ahead and allow extra time to reach the airport.
— YVR (@yvrairport) June 21, 2024

Prev Next

MORE National ARTICLES

Macklem says he doesn't think federal budget will have much of an impact on inflation

Bank of Canada governor Tiff Macklem said he doesn't think the federal budget tabled last month will have much of an effect on inflation. Macklem was testifying at a Senate committee alongside senior deputy governor Carolyn Rogers on Wednesday following the central bank's latest interest rate announcement.

Macklem says he doesn't think federal budget will have much of an impact on inflation

B.C. launches portal to help find hotel rooms for emergency evacuees

British Columbia's hotel association says a new central booking portal will help speed up the process of finding places to stay for emergency evacuees. A statement says the system launching in June will provide provincial emergency support staff with live information on room availability, eliminating the need to call hotels to find out.

B.C. launches portal to help find hotel rooms for emergency evacuees

Woman with a knife arrested at New Westminster post-secondary school

Police in New Westminster, B.C., say they were called to a post-secondary school in the city when staff reported that a woman armed with a knife was inside the building. The woman was not a student at the institution and police say students and staff feared for their safety.

Woman with a knife arrested at New Westminster post-secondary school

B.C's auditor general to review government's response to 2021 Lytton wildfire

British Columbia's auditor general says his office is doing a review of the province's response to the 2021 wildfire that devastated the community of Lytton, B.C. Michael Pickup says in a video statement that the report will focus on the B.C. government's roles and responsibilities for disaster recovery, its support for Lytton, including funding, challenges that came with rebuilding and how the province can improve.

B.C's auditor general to review government's response to 2021 Lytton wildfire

LNG company's plan for floating work camp is rejected by Squamish, B.C.

Plans to use a renovated cruise ship to house more than 600 workers as they build a liquefied natural gas facility near Squamish, B.C., have been voted down by the local council. The ship arrived in B.C. waters in January after a 40-day journey from Estonia, where it had sheltered Ukrainian refugees, but Woodfibre LNG didn't obtain a permit from the district to operate the so-called "floatel."

LNG company's plan for floating work camp is rejected by Squamish, B.C.

Second pro-Palestinian protest camp set up at UVIC

A second pro-Palestinian protest camp has been set up at a university in B-C, two days after the establishment of the first camp at U-B-C in Vancouver. Protesters say students at the new encampment at the University of Victoria are demanding that the school divest itself from investments linked to Israel.