VICTORIA -- Nanaimo RCMP are investigating after a fire, which appears to have been intentionally set, broke out in a local business Tuesday.

Police say that reports of the fire first started coming in around 4 a.m. Tuesday at a thrift store, Previously Enjoyed-Quality Used, located at 619 Townsite Rd.

Firefighters had to break through the front window of the business and through the store’s back door to access the flames.

Mounties say that the fire was contained and brought under control by 6 a.m. before it spread to neighbouring businesses.

Police are now looking to identify two people who were captured on video surveillance walking towards the front door of the business minutes before the fire broke out.

The pair, a man and a woman, are then seen walking away from the building.

Anyone with information on the fire is asked to contact Nanaimo RCMP at 250-754-2345 and quote file 2020-33906.