A huge fire destroyed an empty building located on the Trans-Canadian highway in Mill Bay, closing the route in both directions for hours on a busy day for travel on Friday.
The Mill Bay Fire Department confirmed around 12:30 a.m. that crews were heading for the blaze at the boarded-up Pioneer Square Mall on the highway near Shonigan Lake-Mill Bay Road.
Witnesses in the area passing by saw heavy smoke coming out of the structure as firefighters arrived. Flames could be seen from the roof of the building.
The video shows flames erupting from the roof of Pioneer Square in Mill Bay. Drive BC says the southern TCH is closed with no forecast of reopening due to fire. pic.twitter.com/uszAyuVCEZ
– CHEK News (@CHEK_News) May 27, 2022
After the initial closure of the southern lanes of the highway, Emcon Services said at about 2 p.m., both the northern and southern lanes were closed, essentially closing the route that connects the south to central Vancouver Island.
Drive BC confirmed around 6:37 p.m. that both the north and south lanes were reopened while Shawnigan Lake-Mill Bay Road remained closed between the highway and Barry Road. Drivers were told to expect long delays.
Drivers in the area told CHEK News that traffic was halted both north and south on the highway, and many described the surrounding roads as chaotic as they tried to make their way.
The Cowichan Valley School District tweeted that some families in the southern end of Mill Bay should expect bus delays due to the fire.
This is the third time the building has caught fire in the last six months. In February, Mill Bay Fire responded to a similar fire in a boarded-up building. Another fire broke out in the building at the end of November 2021.
“It was really dilapidated and it really just became a hot spot for people to come in and just vandalize it even more,” said Mill Bay resident Shari Fujimoto. “We’ve been saying for a long time that it would be good to have this demolished and cleaned up, and now I guess that’s going to happen.”
The building still looked smoldering as crews began the process of destroying the wreckage on Friday afternoon.
Locals said they were already worried about potential environmental damage after the fire erupted into a nearby creek, which they say is a sensitive habitat for Coho salmon.
CHEK News contacted the Mill Bay Fire Department and the RCMP for more details. There is no information on what caused the fire, whether there were any injuries or whether it is considered suspicious.
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