Large fire consumes Surrey, B.C., e-bike store, requires 36 firefighters

Dozens of firefighters in Surrey, B.C., spent hours fighting a large blaze at a store selling e-bikes, where smoke was so thick that crews had to battle the flames from outside.

Mike McNamara, assistant chief of operations with the Surrey Fire Department, says its part of a growing number of difficult-to-extinguish fires that erupt when e-bike batteries burn.

McNamara says 36 firefighters and 12 trucks spent six hours Saturday night fighting the fire that destroyed the business and appears to have damaged others nearby.

He says crews were initially able to enter the building but the flames and thickness of the smoke forced them to focus on a "defensive attack" from outside.

Photos from the scene show heavy black smoke and bright flames shooting from the ceiling.

He says the cause of the fire has not been determined and no one was hurt, though a firefighter did get treated for heat exhaustion. .

McNamara says e-bike batteries can make fires harder to douse.

"The lithium, and some of the chemicals inside of them too, they don't put out very easily," he said. "So it just becomes difficult for firefighters. And they burn really hot too, so it spreads the fire very quickly."