West My Friend Returns to Langley
TUESDAY February 25, 2014 • www.langleytimes.com
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NEWS Snow Falls on Homeless Walk
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ARTS & LIFE Journey to Middle Earth
SPORTS Spartans Fall in CW Finals
Marijuana fire closes highway
Girls invited to take to the skies above Langley DAY OF FLIGHTS OFFERED TO FIRSTTIME FLYERS
C URTIS KRE KL AU p hoto
NOBODY INJURED AS LEGAL GROW-OP GOES UP IN SMOKE MO N I Q U E TA M M I N G A Ti me s Re po r t e r
A stubborn fire that forced the shutdown of Fraser Highway near 240 Street on Sunday was housing a large legal marijuana grow operation. Two floors of the three storey building was housing active crops of marijuana, confirmed Township assistant fire chief Bruce Ferguson. The blaze was very difficult to battle because the structure had been altered and compartmentalized to accommodate the grow ops, he said. Firefighters could only battle the fire defensively, not risking going inside, he said. Three people and two dogs were home at the time of the blaze. Everyone got out safely and no injuries were reported. It was around 9:30 a.m., when bystanders noticed a couple people standing on the balcony of the building while the structure was burning. “The two people on the balcony were looking pret-
ty dazed and confused and so the bystanders yelled at them to come down and get away from the fire,” he said. The fire department was called and arrived quickly but already flames were shooting through the roof, said Ferguson. That area of Langley doesn’t have fire hydrants so water tankers were called in from every hall to battle the blaze during a heavy snow fall. Traffic had to be routed around the scene for several hours while multiple units of the Township fire department fought the blaze. The building, that once was a truck-based garage on the bottom with living space above, is totally destroyed. The building loss is estimated around $500,000 to $700,000. Fire crews won’t know the cause of the blaze because they aren’t investigating, said Ferguson. Langley RCMP will not be investigating or looking to pursue charges because it’s a licensed grow operation.
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MONIQUE TA MMING A Time s Re po rte r
When we think of female pilots, most of us go to the famed aviator Amelia Earhart — the 16th woman in history to be issued a pilot’s license and the first female to fly solo across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. In 1937, she mysteriously disappeared while trying to circumnavigate the globe. She paved the way for women in flight. Yet, to this day men still dominate the skies. In fact, only six per cent of commercial pilots are female. While the percentage of female doctors, lawyers and CEOs has skyrocketed, women involved in aviation and aerospace remain few and far between. Aldergrove resident Kirsten Brazier, who also happens to be a professional pilot with fixed wing planes
D A N FE R GUS ON Langley Time s
Two floors full of marijuana plants went up in smoke when a legal grow operation caught fire in a three-storey building at 240 Street and Fraser Highway on Sunday morning. Township fire crews had to tanker in water to battle the difficult fire. Three people and two dogs got out without injury.
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