Fire broke out at the Parksville Heritage Centre building late Wednesday evening, substantially destroying the structure and many of the businesses inside. (submitted photo/Rick Hannibal)

By NanaimoNewsNOW Staff

completely destroyed

VIDEO: Fast-spreading overnight fire guts Parksville Heritage Centre

Nov 10, 2022 | 9:34 AM

PARKSVILLE — An overnight fire destroyed the main building at the Heritage Centre in south Parksville, impacting several businesses.

Fire rescue crews responded on Wednesday, Nov. 9 just before 9:40 p.m. to the Island Hwy. property after reports of a large fire, home to a number of businesses including a pair of restaurants, animal hospital and newspaper.

Marc Norris, Parksville Fire Rescue chief, told NanaimoNewsNOW on scene Thursday morning they’re not sure how the fire started or what the cause was, but it was a challenge for crews to deal with.

“The difficulty with this fire was access to the ceiling spaces, the roof areas where the fire was located. Being such an old building, those spaces were interconnected and the fire spread through there, causing the roof to collapse in on the units themselves.”

The fire is not currently considered suspicious, but an investigation continues.

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Minor injuries to one firefighter were the only ones reported.

Two cats were inside the animal hospital at the northern most unit in the building with Norris confirming one fled the fire on its own, while the second was rescued by firefighters and handed over to Oceanside RCMP.

Norris noted one of their members sustained a minor injury while battling the fire.

Norris added the fire appears to have originated at the southern end of the main building on site and spread quickly.

A roughly 25-foot gap, along with a firewall, between the main building and the neighbouring Serious Coffee helped spare more businesses from being destroyed.

Serious Coffee was open for customers Thursday morning.

Norris said there was little in the way of fire separation between the units.

“We can tell that by the amount of smoke that was coming out of the eaves all the way around the building when we arrived,” Norris said. “Also, it seems the fire had been burning for some time before we got here.”

Norris conceded the building was completely destroyed, calling it a “fairly devastating outcome”.

Repairing the structure won’t be an option, given the age and the level of destruction from flames, Norris said.

“We will first do a fire investigation to see if we can determine what the cause of this fire was, and secondly we’ll be in contact with all of the business owners, the building owner and their insurers…to make sure we have a game plan for demolition of the building and remediation.”

Flames shot high into the sky at the Parksville Heritage Building on Wednesday, Nov. 9 in a fire which is believed to have started in or around the British Bobby Restaurant. (Coach)

Crews remained on scene all night and into Thursday morning watching for hot spots and cleaning up.

The blaze is considered by local fire crews as one of the biggest fires in Parksville in recent memory.

Norris said a September fire on Memorial Ave. was sizeable, but the Heritage Centre fire Wednesday night is likely the largest since an apartment block fire on Ocean Terrace in 2017.

Damage to the Parksville Heritage Centre on the Island Hwy. is substantial following a late Wednesday evening fire. (submitted photo/Bill Dean)

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