One pet dog was killed and five two-story houses were destroyed during a fire that broke out at a pet store in Hualien City on Saturday night, a firefighter said yesterday, as investigators probed the cause of the blaze.
Hualien County Fire Department division chief Lu Kuan-chen (呂冠辰) said the fire at the pet store on Jhongshan Road destroyed the store and four houses adjacent to it.
Heavy equipment was deployed to fight the fast-spreading fire, which caused significant damage to the buildings, making the investigation into its cause challenging, Lu said.
Photo: CNA
The exact cause of the fire has not yet been determined, he said.
The Hualien County Fire Department received a call at 8:53pm on Saturday that flames were spotted coming out of a house on Jhongshan Road, which was later identified as a pet store next to a Burger King restaurant, the department said.
The flames quickly spread to adjacent buildings, which were all two-story, 40 to 50-year-old houses, firefighters said.
Most of the aging houses had wooden decorations, which complicated efforts to extinguish the violent fire, they added.
More than 150 personnel and 45 vehicles were mobilized to put out the fire, which was controlled at 11:40pm on Saturday, and put out at about 4am yesterday.
During the firefighting, more than 20 pet dogs were rescued from the scene, including those owned by the fire-hit pet store.
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