Surrey Fire crews battle fire in vacant city-owned house

Surrey fire crews successfully contained a large fire that broke out in a house on 140 Street late Saturday night.

Neighbours called 911 after seeing large flames and smoke coming from a single story rancher near 106 Avenue and 140 Street around 11 p.m. Saturday.

"We found nobody inside, so there's no any injuries to residents or any of my crews," said Battalion Chief Gary McHarg, at thescene.

McHarg said the house is on property thatbelongs to the City of Surrey, but he didn't know what the city's intended use for it was.

"They might be for development, park land, or schools, anything like that," he said.

"The city has to buy property for that sometimes. It could be that it could be something else."

The fire spread quickly into the roof and attic, but crews were able to contain most of the damage to those areas.

McHarg said the fire investigator will be looking into the incident later in the week.