As engineers assessed the structural integrity of one of Nanaimo’s heritage buildings, the business community took stock of the losses and what the building’s tenants will need to recover and start over.
The Jean Burns Building, built in 1955 at the corner of Commercial Street and Terminal Avenue, suffered heavy damage in a blaze that wiped out 15 businesses Wednesday.
The fire was called in just after 6:30 p.m. and it looked like firefighters might get the upper hand as tenants from the building watched the battle from the Vault coffee house across the street.
“At first it was just like, ‘It’s OK. This isn’t going to be that bad. They’ve got it under control,'” said Amanda Scott, owner of the Vault.
Then the first of three explosions, triggered by the hot smoke and gases that ignited, ripped through the upper floor of the building.
“It was just awful and then it was just like the panic kind of set in,” Scott said. “And then we shut down service here because it was like we can’t just pretend to be happy when this trauma’s going on.”
The Vault stayed open all night as a sanctuary for fire victims and a rest spot for firefighters and other first responders. Thrifty Foods and other retailers also chipped in food and drinks.
By 10:30 p.m., Nanaimo Fire Rescue scene commanders made the decision to contain the fire to the Jean Burns building and save surrounding structures. About 40 firefighters brought the blaze under control at 5:45 a.m. No one was injured and surrounding buildings were spared, save for some water and smoke damage to businesses on Lois Lane.
Cindi Cameron, owner of women’s clothing store Luscious Me, sat in the tailgate of her SUV Thursday afternoon waiting to see if she could enter her business which she had operated from Jean Burns Building since early 2015. She had just done some remodelling and installed new slat board on the walls.
She said her store and stock were likely a total loss.
“You’ve got to look at the positive – look at it as a blessing in disguise,” Cameron said. “You’ve got to go bigger and better somewhere else. The community comes together, your friends and your family and you go from there.”
Cameron, who was insured, wants to reopen downtown or in the Old City Quarter.
The Downtown Nanaimo Business Improvement Association will co-ordinate relief and fundraising for fire victims.
“We’ll become that centralized place for information and offers of help, so we’ll collect those and make sure they get to the right businesses or the property owner,” said Corry Hostetter, DNBIA executive director.
The association needs to have power restored its offices, located next to the China Steps, before it can start co-ordinating relief efforts, but Hostetter said business have already offered space to fire victims and some of those have already been relocated.
Scott sees the potential for a positive outcome from the community banding together, but she also recognizes the fire’s long-term potential impact.
“It’s a really big hit for downtown,” Scott said. “It changes the whole thing. It changes the face of downtown.”
