The owners of a Sooke shopping centre, heavily damaged in a suspicious fire Wednesday, are rushing to find new locations for displaced tenants and vowing to rebuild.

Portions of Evergreen Shopping Centre, at 6660 Sooke Rd., collapsed during the fire, which was reported about 5:30 a.m.

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The fire destroyed or badly damaged the premises of several businesses, including a Royal Bank branch, Carole Cave’s Sooke Dance Studio, Sooke News Mirror and Barton Insurance. They were in a two-storey building built in 1980 with retail on the lower level and office space above. It is one of three multi-tenant buildings on the site, along with two standalone stores.

“We believe rebuilding it is an economically prudent thing to do,” said Peter D. Morris, chief operating officer of Partners REIT, which owns Evergreen.

“We have been sold on that site since we purchased it. And we believe it is a very strong retail property and ultimately it will warrant a redevelopment of that building as well as some of the things we are looking at for that property.”

Morris said the company’s first priority is to find space for displaced tenants in its other buildings at the site. The owners are “shocked and disappointed” to find the fire may have been purposely set, Morris said.

Investigators suspect the fire started outside at the back of the bank, said Sooke Fire Chief Steve Sorensen. Only its back wall and a vault remain standing. “It’s a crime scene under our control until we determine it was an accident,” Sorensen said.

At the fire’s peak, nearly 50 firefighters and seven fire trucks pumped thousands of gallons of water into the building.

At one point, the Helgeson reservoir, which supplies the town, was nearly drained. Houses at higher elevations lost water pressure for a few hours until the reservoir was refilled.

Sooke Mayor Wendal Milne said firefighters risked their lives, as portions of the second floor and the building’s roof collapsed. “It’s just devastating to think someone would do something like that — it makes you think what else will they do in the community.”

charnett@timescolonist.com

— With additional reporting by Carla Wilson

Big hearts, open arms respond to blaze

As firefighters doused the fire that ripped through part of Sooke’s Evergreen Shopping Centre on Wednesday, businesses that could help pitched in, while those displaced considered their future.

The fire is devastating for the tight-knit community, said John Farmer, former owner/pharmacist of the Shoppers Drug Mart that is in the mall but was unaffected by the fire.

“You feel for the people who work there,” Farmer said. “The people who will lose their jobs … and the immediate economic impact to a small community can be quite huge.”

Sooke Mirror News editor Pirjo Raits struggled with disbelief as the fire, thought to have started behind the Royal Bank, heavily damaged the newspaper office and other businesses in the 33-year-old complex.

After a career spent covering the news, Raits got some surprising insights into what it feels like to be a victim of fire, one that may have been deliberately set.

“It feels wrong, and they suspect arson — that’s the worst thing,” Raits said.

When she first heard about the fire, Raits grabbed her camera and rushed to the scene to take photos.

“Work mode took over — and then all of a sudden somebody came up and put their arm around me and I sort of misted up,” said Raits, editor of the paper for eight years.

Others went to work to help firefighters, said Sooke Fire Chief Steve Sorensen.

“Businesses have been great, giving us food and coffee and things,” Sorensen said.

That included Subway owner Paul Biggs, whose eatery was in a section of the shopping centre that escaped the flames.

“I’m glad to do it,” said Biggs, who was open as usual at 7 a.m.

He was in the store much earlier, though, going through his routine of preparing for the day near the time the fire is believed to have started.

“I must have missed it by minutes,” he said.

“I drove in the back alley at 10 after five, and I saw nothing and nobody.”

Biggs said the firefighters were grateful for sandwiches to keep them going. The crew returned the favour by keeping an eye on him, he said.

“They kept checking on me to make sure I wasn’t fainting or getting dizzy from the smoke.”

The air was good inside the shop, he said. “It was a lot better inside than it was outside.”

The Royal Bank assured customers “that we are making every effort to ensure your records, including safe deposit boxes, are safe and secure.”

Sooke customers are being directed to branches in Colwood, at 1905 Sooke Rd., and in Langford, at 2945 Jacklin Rd.

Bryan Davis, owner of Sooke Video To Go, said the effects of the fire on his business looked to be minimal.

“Other than a bit of a smell it seems like everything is fine for us.”

Raits said firefighters took the time to gather the newspaper’s computers and cover them with tarps prior to the fire spreading.

Newspaper staff were able to recover the computers early Wednesday afternoon, but she didn’t know whether any of the electronic files, including thousands of photos, had been saved.

The fire consumed the newspaper’s archive, which included decades of the day-to-day life of Sooke, but the museum has a large amount of historical information, Raits said.

The fire rekindled the strong community ties of Sooke, Raits said.

She was touched by the number of people who have offered sympathy, space and a kind word.

“It kind of makes you realize a lot of things about small communities and how they band together,” Raits said.

“It really is a real community. At the heart of it, they are people with big hearts and open arms.”

jwbell@timescolonist.com

smcculloch@timescolonist.com