At least one building was destroyed on Friday afternoon when firefighters rushed to a large fire at the vacant Pioneer Square Mall in Mill Bay, BC.
The flames and heavy smoke were visible from a nearby stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway before 1 p.m.
The freeway was quickly closed to traffic as firefighters parked trucks on the roadway at the intersection with Shawnigan Lake-Mill Bay Road.
The freeway was cut off from traffic in both directions for several hours, and reopened to northbound traffic around 6 p.m., and in both directions around 6:30 p.m., according to DriveBC.
Several firefighters responded to the scene with several trucks carrying water from another location.
The Cowichan Valley School District said it was “following the situation” in a statement on its Twitter page. The school district said students and their tutors should “expect delays on buses due to the change of itinerary.”