Heritage building, beloved bistro badly damaged in Port Moody fire

A fire badly damaged a Port Moody heritage building containingtwo apartments and the Gallery Bistro restaurant Sunday night.

According to acting fire chief Kirk Heaven, as of Monday morning, investigators were still working to determine how it started, and firefighters were still putting out hotspots in the 2400 block of Clarke Street.

Witness Nancy Nikolai said the fire broke out on the second floor of the heritagebuilding that sits on the west side of theGallery Bistro.

Nikolai said she and 25 others were at a private birthday party for Gallery Bistro co-owner Helen Daniels when a neighbour started yelling "fire."

"Rainer[Daniels, Helen's husband] threw him a fire extinguisherand he sort of mumbled and threw it back. I think he said 'it's too late,'" said Nikolai."We were all told to get out of there and it just went so fast."

Six metre high flames

The fire sent flames leaping six metres into the air along with large plumes of black smoke.

Heaven said the good news was crews were able to stop the fire from moving to the buildings on the east side of the Gallery Bistro.

The only injuries were to firefighters. One needed medical attention for an ankle injury, while a few others were treated for heat exhaustion.

The fire started in the heritage building that was once home to theRoe & Abernethy Grocery Store, which was co-owned by Port Moody's first mayor, Perry Douglas Roe.

The building dates back to about 1913, the year after a large fire destroyed much of Port Moody's then city centre.

The main floor ofthe former Roe & Abernethy building was empty at the time, but according to Heaven, the second floor contained two apartments.

Fire crews fight large blaze in Port Moody

5 years ago

Duration 0:30

Dark smoke billowed from a large fire in Port Moody Sunday evening. Witnesses say the fire started in a bistro and quickly spread to nearby buildings.

Nikolai said the Gallery Bistro isbeloved in Port Moody as a hub for local musicians and artists. The extent of the damageis still being assessed.

"It's going to be a big hole in the community," she said. "I hate to conjecture about what the future may bring. Hopefully, they can do something and still have this venue down the road but it looks kind of bleak right now.

Another witness, Corinne Fransen was having dinner at the legion on Clarke Street Sunday night when she noticed smoke outside at around 6:30 p.m. PT.

She walked around the block to see what was happening and saw people running out of a restaurant still holding wine glasses.

"Some people were running out and somebody said, 'There's a fire there,'" she said.

Soon, the bistro,which Fransen saysis alongside a row of old wood-frame buildings, was engulfed in flames thatquickly spread to one of the nearby houses.

"The fire was pretty intense right away," Fransen said. "It didn't seem like it was just a smouldering little thing."

Four fire trucks arrived to battle the flames, she said. The fire isin an old area of Port Moody with lots of shops, she added.

Mark Beattie was working at the nearby Starbuckson Queens Street and St. Johns Streetwhen he noticed whitesmoke outside at around 6:45 p.m. PT.

Thesmoke quickly turned darkand the flames reached as high as 20 feet (six metres), he said.