Fire, emergency services, police and city crews are still on the scene of a “suspicious” fire that destroyed three downtown buildings and have caused damage to several others.

Two empty buildings – the former Sushi Island restaurant and the empty Hair Bizzare – were destroyed, as well as the home of Literacy Nipissing.

The downtown Nurse-led Practitioner Clinic and the offices of Nipissing MPP Vic Fedeli sustained damage.

The fire call was received at 12:32 a.m.

One firefighter was taken to North Bay Regional Health Centre with frostbite to his leg.

Firefighters tried an interior attack when they arrived on the scene, according to North Bay Fire Chief Jason Whitely but there was too much fire involved on the ground and second storeys.

“The fire had a really good hold by the time we arrived,” Whitely said.

An excavator was brought in to give fire crews access to the blaze from Oak Street.

Temperatures of -21C were hard on both firefighters and their equipment, Whitely said.

“They have been here over seven hours,” he said, with air packs, generators and other equipment encrusted in ice.

“It takes a toll on everybody,” he said.

The North Bay Transit building on Oak Street was opened to keep residents of several apartments in adjoining buildings warm. A city transit bus was also pressed into service to provide a place for firefighters and other emergency crews a place to warm up from battling the blaze in frigid temperatures.

Whitely said there were “a lot of water issues” as they fought the blaze.

“The problem with these buildings is they’re a hundred years old” with many structural changes over the years and “a lot of void spaces” in and between the buildings.

Windows in the apartments above the building that houses Fedeli’s office were blown out by the fire, and he expected there would be heavy smoke and water damage in some.

Members of the public brought in coffee and doughnuts for the firefighters taking a break, while others continued to pour water into the buildings.

“This is devastating,” North Bay Mayor Al McDonald said, but vowed the city and the downtown area were “going to work through this.

“We are very proud of the fire department, the EMS, the city crews and the city police” for their actions in fighting the fire.

“They are all professionals and they are all dedicated” to their jobs.

McDonald said he has been kept informed by Whitely about the status of the blaze.

He said the city will work with the downtown and private sector partners.

“There’s smoke coming out of the big window at the bottom of the clinic,” said Allannah Meunier-Gauthier.

Jordain Pinkerton said she was with her boyfriend driving back from a friend’s house around midnight when he commented about the smell of smoke.

“It was like a faint burning smell,” she told The Nugget. “It was enough that he stopped and said “I smell smoke.” There was no indication of a fire except for that. We came back an hour later to crazy smoke and fire trucks everywhere.”

Pinkerton said there was a huge trail of black smoke billowing from the downtown core.

“You could see the reflection of the smoke above the building. And there was concern because there are apartments above those businesses.”

Another witness said the door to Sushi Island had been broken and people were going in and out of the building, however nobody reported it.

The city’s bus terminal on Oak Street has also been open for people affected by the fire to seek refuge from the cold. The Canadian Red Cross has been called in to assist.

Those affected by the fire will be put up in hotels for three days and their animals will also be taken care of.