Stadium Shopping Centre fire: Investigators not ruling out any causes

Fire investigators are combing through charred debris at the Stadium Shopping Centre as they try to figure out how Thursday's massive blaze started.

Crews still had to contend with occasional flare-ups, more than 24 hours after the first plume of smoke was spotted, as heavy equipment sifted through the rubble at the flattened south end of the strip mall.

"The trackhoe is moving debris around so they can get a better look at the different areas and try to determine the exact origin and cause of this fire," fire department Carol Henke explained.

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Henke said investigators aren't ruling anything out and brought in a trained dog to help look for any evidence of arson.

"Her job is to sniff for any potential accelerants," Henke said. "So she helps define the area and the location where such substances may be found."

Joanne Weigiel owns The Cat House, one of several retail stores lost in the blaze. She was in Montreal on Thursday when she received the news.

"I'm trying to absorb this," she said Friday. "You know, it's funny I never cried once yesterday.I didn't shed a tear. I might have been in shock. But today,I cried."

Weigiel said she had insurance but "apparently not enough" to cover all the contents of the store that were lost.

A GoFundMe page has been set up to support the pet-supply store, from which two residentcats were rescued before the worst of the fire tore through the building.

David Phui's family business, Hi-Ball Restaurant, was massively damaged in the blaze, too.

"It's devastating, seeing all the wreckage," he said."The restaurant is barely recognizable right now."

Phui said the family won't know what's going to happen with insurance until the investigation iscomplete, but they'd already been scouting for a new location,because the strip mall is set to be redeveloped.

This just hurries those plans along, he said, because the restaurant was the only source of income for his parents.

Brian WalkermanagesSecond to None Meats, located further north in the strip mall.

He saw the fire in its early stages Thursday morning, noticing smoke coming from Billingsgate Seafood Market, and was just about to call 911 when thefirst fire truck arrived.

"I'm going, 'God somebody's beat me to it. Thank God!So this won't betoo bad,'" he recalled."However itdidn't turn out that way."

Walker said he managed ot save about $75,000 worth of meat from his store by calling in refrigerated trucks, anticipating that power would be out at the building due to the fire.

And while his store will be OK, he said he feels for the other retailers.

"We are a very close knit little community here," Walker said."All the merchants,weare like a little family,so we are all feeling it reallybad."