Investigation underway into storage yard fire in northeast Calgary

Fire crews arrived to heavy smoke and flames, but were able to quickly extinguish the fire in the yard of a northeast auto parts shop.

Investigation is underway into a structure fire at a storage yard Thursday in northeast Calgary.

A CFD spokesperson confirmed Thursday that crews were called to Union Auto Parts at 415 37 Ave. N.E. for reports of a fire in the storage yard at around 12:30 p.m.

Crews discovered heavy smoke and fire in the yard. They were able to connect to a hydrant about a block away, and were able to put out the fire and prevent it from spreading.

The damage was limited to a metal quonset hut surrounded by various passenger vehicle and auto parts.

“One of the challenges we had today was the location of our fire hydrants,” said a fire department spokesperson. “While we have booster tanks on the trucks, we basically have two to three minutes of water utilizing the tanks so we had to connect with the fire hydrant system.

“Just with the location of the two hydrants, they’re quite a distance away and that’s why we needed more hose,” he added, “and had to shut down more streets than we normally would.”

Streets in the area were temporarily closed, due to the distance to the hydrants, but have since reopened.