Firefighters quickly dealt with a blaze at Parksville’s historic Rod & Gun Bar and Grill early Saturday (April 18), according Parksville Fire Department officials.
The department attended to the fire at approximately 4 a.m. and managed to get the fire under control “prior to it getting too far into the structure.”
Marc Norris, fire chief at both the Parksville and Qualicum Beach Fire Departments, said the damage mostly took place on the first floor on the corner adjacent to Alberni Highway and Hirst Avenue. There was also damage to electrical systems.
Norris said Saturday afternoon fire investigators had yet to return to the scene and no further information was available regarding the cause of the blaze.
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The 122-year-old Rod & Gun is currently closed due to COVID-19 concerns and no one was in the building during the time of the fire. Norris said he’s glad they were able to contain the blaze so quickly, with help from both the Qualicum Beach and Errington fire departments, especially because it’s a heritage building.
“Being it’s such an old building, if it had been any farther along it could have been a very difficult fire,” he said. “I think the issue in buildings like that, is the building construction was different back then and also there’s renovations on top of renovations on top of renovations, which means there’s a lot of concealed spaces… fire gets into those spaces they’re difficult to find and get into.”
