A Parksville bakery that exploded into a tower of flames in a frightening scene Friday is being investigated as suspicious.

Firefighters were called to French Creek Bakery just off Highway 19A in the mid-island town at around 12:30 p.m.

Twenty crew members battled the blaze and mutual aid was called in from Qualicum Beach, but the building was consumed by flames and is a total loss.

Four employees were inside at the time and while one was treated for minor smoke inhalation, all escaped relatively unharmed, officials said.

“Somebody came in and tell me there’s a fire, and our server just started yelling to everyone to come out,” said bakery employee Jiayi Si. “That’s the biggest [fire] I’ve ever seen.”

Video from the scene shows a large, loud explosion erupting from the building as shocked bystanders look on.

“It was definitely incredibly big, and it was incredibly fast,” said witness Terry Kerr, who owns a neighbouring business that sustained some cosmetic damage.

“Three propane tanks, they did let go. They certainly didn’t explode, but they certainly let all of their propane out the top,” he said. “We were back on the other side and you could feel the heat. You can see my building, it’s got the melted damage on it too.”

The fire appears to have sparked on the building’s exterior right near the propane tanks, said Parksville Fire Chief Marc Norris.

“Our initial fire command officer found a fully involved structure, fire out of all sides of the structure at that time,” said Norris.

He said the blaze follows a fire yesterday at another bakery just down the road, and investigators have deemed this one suspicious.

“At this time the fact that there have been two bakery fires is somewhat suspicious,” said Norris. “However, I can’t draw a correlation at this time until we investigate further.”

The fire department has asked RCMP to assist it in the investigation.

Mounties say lanes of the highway as well as Wembley Road were shut down as crews battled the blaze, but the highway has since reopened.

Wembley Road remained closed to traffic as of 2:00 p.m.

Motorists in the area at the time described feeling an explosion and intense heat on the highway when the building went up in flames.

CJ Rushton, who took photos of bright orange flames escaping the bakery’s roof, wrote that he felt “lucky to be alive.”

The cause of the fire is under investigation.