METRO VANCOUVER - A fire at The Vancouver Sun’s printing press sent five people to hospital last night with smoke inhalation, and has delayed the delivery of Friday’s edition of the paper.

The fire erupted at around 11:30 p.m. underneath one of the printing presses in the Pacific Press printing hall located at 12091 88th Avenue in Surrey, said Rick Varsava, a production manager at the press.

He was in his office when he heard someone yell fire. “I grabbed one of the extinguishers nearest to me,” he said, explaining that smoke was coming from the far end of the printing hall, beneath one of the four printing towers.

“The smoke got really bad,” he said, explaining that everyone evacuated the building.

“It could have been a lot worse,” Varsava added, noting that several of the workers were able to suppress the fire with extinguishers before it got out of control.

Firefighters attended and were able to extinguish the fire soon after, he said.

The extent of the damage is not yet known.

There will be extensive delays in The Sun deliveries today, as printing will not be completed until around 8 a.m., Varsava said.

The Sun apologizes for the inconvenience.

eduggan@vancouversun.com