Firefighters from multiple departments responded to the fire shortly after 10:30 p.m. at the Parksville Heritage Center at 1209 Island Highway East.
Firefighters from multiple departments responded to the fire shortly after 10:30 p.m. at the Parksville Heritage Center at 1209 Island Highway East.  (CTV News)
“When we arrived, we found smoke coming from all the eaves of the structure on the northeast side,” said Parksville Fire Chief Marc Norris.
Flames quickly spread to the roof and trusses fell to the businesses below as they burned.  The fire chief says the building was built in the 1960s or 1970s and has been renovated several times.
“This is a pretty old building, it has a lot of ceilings,” he said.  “Crews were unable to get to it, the fire spread to the attic space and truss bases.”
Norris says there were no fire separations between the units.  He believes the fire started inside one of the building’s two restaurants.
Hydro and natural gas were disconnected from the building, and Norris says two propane tanks were removed from the area.  Crews also had to wade through a large, knee-deep puddle of water that filled a section of the parking lot.
The businesses were empty at the time of the fire.
Two cats belonging to Heritage Animal Hospital were rescued from the fire.  The cats belong to hospital staff and there were no other pets in overnight care at the time.
Hospital staff were on the scene Wednesday night trying to figure out how to continue operating Thursday.
Two restaurants – the British Bobby Restaurant and LaBelle Parksville – were also destroyed in the fire, along with the offices of the Parksville Qualicum Beach News.
Teresa Bird, editor of the paper, says she is relieved no one was injured in the fire.
“Obviously we haven’t been able to walk through the building yet, but we know that all the electronics and everything, of course, is destroyed,” Bird said.
The staff of 10 who worked in the building will temporarily have to work remotely while new facilities are found.  Bird said community members have already presented offers of business space.
“We’re actually able to work remotely to get the paper out this week, so we’ll have a paper this week. Everyone can work from their laptops. Most of our systems are online now,” he said.
He said the offices were also used to produce podcasts across the province and the sound studio was destroyed.
Crews prevented the fire from spreading to the other part of the mall, which is anchored by the Serious Coffee shop.
Firefighters remained at the scene Thursday morning to determine the cause of the fire.