An early morning fire in a two-storey warehouse on Murray Street in Port Moody was a challenge to fight and blocked traffic both ways to commuters for several hours.
Port Moody Fire Chief Remo Faedo said it took three hours and more than two dozen firefighters from both fire halls to douse the blaze because the roof fell in and some unidentified materials continued to burn.
"It delayed our ability to strike the fire entirely," Faedo said.
Investigators are on the scene trying to determine the cause of the blaze and what the materials were that started to burn. However, as of Thursday, the fire didn't appear to be suspicious, the chief said.
"We did have concerns of hazardous materials on site, but I haven't seen the report," he said.
Pacific Particulate Materials Ltd. operates out of the building and a call to the company was picked up by an answering machine.
Faedo said the PoMo fire department received a call at 4:05 a.m. and by 7:30 a.m. the fire was doused.
Traffic was shut down in both directions but westbound was reopened at 7:30 a.m. and eastbound re-opened later in the morning.
However, the closure of the route forced traffic onto St. Johns Street, which was backed up for much of the morning rush hour, according to reports.
