Beloved church space gutted by Surrey strip mall fire [Video]

Jonathan Gallardo stood behind yellow caution tape, staring at a gutted strip mall unit near Surrey’s Gateway Skytrain station Monday. Scorched wood and chairs could be seen through the window and the air smelled of smoke.

Just one day earlier, the space was filled with church-goers attending their weekly worship.

“It’s really sad, because it seems like it was helping the neighbourhood,” said Gallardo, a leader at Breath of Life Church, a bilingual church serving the local Latin community that had been operating out of the unit for less than a year.

At 2:30 a.m. Monday, patrolling officers in the area noticed smoke and flames billowing from the strip mall at 108 Ave. …