'Lost their livelihoods': Parksville strip mall fire still under investigation

On Monday, fire investigators were back at the scene of an inferno that destroyed a Parksville strip mall on Nov. 9.

They were looking for a cause of the blaze. However, their efforts were being hampered.

"With all the debris – there's air-handling units, there's shelving, walls that have come down on top of it – so it's not safe to be inside the building," said Parksville Deputy Fire Chief Steven Liedl.

Their early belief remains that the fire started inside one of the building's two restaurants, but so far investigators have had to restrict their clue-finding to outside.

"A little bit too unsafe to just go inside," Liedl said. "The instability of the walls, [we have] to make sure that nothing's going to collapse or debris come down on anybody."

Seven businesses were affected by the blaze, including the Heritage Animal Hospital, where the owners are still trying to figure out how to keep themselves and their seven employees working.

"Fortunately we have full access to our client and patient database because it is web-based, so we are doing our best to provide ongoing veterinary services through the gracious help of all the surrounding veterinary clinics," said hospital manager Adriane Harper.

Some employees of the hospital as well as volunteers remained at the fire scene on Monday hoping to capture Dale, a clinic cat that became spooked during the fire and fled the area.

The cat is believed to have been spotted back at the clinic as well as at a trailer park across the street.

"Our staff has just been amazing and I want to give them a shout-out. They've lost their livelihoods, they don't know if they're going to have jobs and they're out helping our clients and looking for this clinic cat," said hospital co-owner Dr. Heather Hagen.

Customers are still able to email the clinic at [e-mail] to get medications for their pets as well as any medical records to take animals to other clinics in the interim.

"I don't know what Adriane and I would have done without the [staff] support and the community support and everybody, but our staff has just been amazing," Hagen said.

The scene has been handed over from firefighters to the insurance companies who will have to determine when the remainder of the building will come down.