The second fire this winter struck the unoccupied Pioneer Square Mall in Mill Bay on Thursday, Feb. 17.
The Mill Bay Fire Department were called to a blaze at the boarded up building at 12:26 p.m., and with the help of the Shawnigan Lake Fire Department had the flames out quickly said Mill Bay Fire Chief Ron Beck.
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The fire started on the outside of the building at the back, Beck said, and the cause is under investigation.
The building, located at the corner of the Trans-Canada Highway and Shawnigan-Mill Bay Road was also the site of a fire on the afternoon of Nov. 26, 2021.
“Thankfully it wasn’t what it could have been,” said Captain Dean Kwasny of the Mill Bay Fire Department after the November fire.
“If this building ever really did go up, it would be a mess.”
There’s a lot of old, dry cedar in the building, Kwasny explained, making it a fire hazard.
“We’re very worried about this place now,” he said.