Prince Rupert’s Fire Rescue crew responded to the third inexplicable fire since June at the old Commercial Pub and Grill last week, with the cause of all three incidents yet to be determined.
The Prince Rupert Fire Rescue Department received a call regarding smokes and flames coming from under the porch at the Commercial just before noon on March 5. The crew responded quickly, and discovered a small fire under the middle of the porch when they arrived at the scene.
“We got our guys packed up because it was a mattress on fire. There was toxic fumes coming [off the mattress]. We were able to knock it down with a foam extinguisher… That was the quickest method,” said Jeff Beckwith, Prince Rupert’s deputy fire chief.
Beckwith said it was fortunate they were called right away.
“It had the potential of being very serious because there’s a great fuel load underneath the porch that would’ve caught onto the rest of the building,” he said.
“If a fire starts at a low point like this one, everything’s going to burn up.”
Whether the fire was started intentionally is left to be seen at this point.
“There was no igniting sources we could find in the investigation and no one near by at the time,” Beckwith said.
“We can’t rule if it’s suspicious or accidental because it looks like someone was living under the porch. It could’ve been a cigarette, or it could’ve been intentionally set. We can’t say at this time.”
