Victoria City Hall is fully open today for the first time since fire destroyed a vacant hotel on Monday, sending clouds of choking smoke over the city's downtown core. A note on the city's website says city hall fully reopened this morning after it and several other nearby businesses were closed because of the potentially dangerous smoke. The caretaker of the former Plaza Hotel has not been seen since flames broke out and officials want to speak to anyone who might know the whereabouts of Mike Draeger. Only portions of the hotel's outer walls are still standing after the fire raged for hours on Monday. It flared again Tuesday and smouldered for days, preventing crews from actively searching the site for any sign of Draeger or a cause of the blaze. . @VictoriaFire730 currently control the scene and are working to make it safe for the agencies that need access to the site. Fire investigators will work in the coming days to determine the origin and cause of the fire. More info here: https://t.co/hfj964eAU9 — Victoria Police (@vicpdcanada) May 9, 2019<doc-sep>WATCH: Mystery continues over whereabouts of caretaker as materials from massive Victoria hotel fire are tested for accelerants. Tess van Straaten reports. Crews work for a fourth straight day to extinguish the Victoria Plaza Hotel blaze, as hot spots continue to flare up. That means it’s still not safe for investigators to enter the site to determine whether it was was an accident or deliberately set. “It’s still too early,” says Deputy Chief Chris Royle of the Victoria Fire Department. “We’ll be doing our fire cause investigation when the scene is actually safe to enter.” Materials pulled out of the building are being testing for accelerants. The buildings historic Government Street facade, dating back to 1911, is now gone. They’d hoped to save it but it was removed Wednesday evening for safety seasons. The last remaining wall, along the alley, started coming down Thursday afternoon. “It’s unsafe right now for excavator operators to work in there with that load that’s hanging high off that wall,” explains City of Victoria director of engineering and public works Fraser Work. “That’s unstable and structurally unsound.” But despite the progress being made, the building’s caretaker is still unaccounted for. Mike Dreagar’s lived in the vacant building for years — and worked here for more than two decades doing maintenance before that. “He’s just been a staple, a fixture, like a piece of furniture in this building,” says friend and former co-worker Wayne Kalnciems. “He’s not the type of person you’d see go on vacations. His whole life was established in this building.” Friends say they’re now starting to fear the worst. CHEK Newsletter Sign up for our newsletter to get breaking news and daily digests sent to your email. Email Address Sign Up “My inkling is, I don’t want to say it, but I think he might be in there,” says Kalnciems. “My heart hopes not but maybe it might be. It’s very upsetting.” Police found Draegar’s airstream parked in the alley behind the building Monday. But they’ve had no luck trying to locate him. Draegar also had his own workshop in the basement — which was an inferno when fire crews arrived — so they have no way of knowing if he was there. “We’re still not at a point where we can make any access into the basement,” says Deputy Chief Royle. If the fire turns out to be fatal, officials say it will determine how the investigation progresses.<doc-sep>One man is unaccounted for after a fire at a shuttered hotel in downtown Victoria. Firefighters have been blasting the old Victoria Plaza Hotel on Pandora Avenue at Government Street with water since they arrived at the building just after 5:30 a.m. Part of one wall collapsed around 10 a.m. and the building's stability is still uncertain. Victoria fire Chief Paul Bruce, speaking to reporters early Monday afternoon, said the building's caretaker, Mike Draeger, has not been found. There were no indications he was in the building at the time, Bruce added, but he was known to sometimes stay in the building. Police would like to hear from anyone who might know Draeger's whereabouts. The fire downtown is still burning. People in the neighbouring building woke up to fire alarms and smoke at 4 am today. pic.twitter.com/4iIDODLzzd —@lizziepetra "We have no idea and I'd hate to speculate on anything like that," Bruce said when asked about the caretaker. "I would assume that they're actively looking to track him down right now." Roads are closed, nearby buildings have been evacuated, and city hall has shut down for the rest of the day as well. Bruce said the fire is still active. Smoke seen for great distance A tower of smoke billowing from the four-storey building blanketed the downtown core throughout the day and created created a cloud visible from as far as Port Angeles, Wash., across the Strait of Juan de Fuca. A commanding firefighter said it's one of the largest fires he's seen in the city in recent memory. "It's been a few years," said deputy fire Chief Dan Atkinson, asked about the last time the city saw a fire so large. "This is a significant fire, for sure." The fire department said more than two dozen firefighters were on scene battling the flames on Monday. (Megan Thomas/CBC) At its peak, 34 firefighters were on scene trying to get the fire under control from the street and ladders well above the roof. Atkinson said some nearby businesses have smoke and water damage, but flames haven't spread. "We've got the building where we want it. All the buildings to the south have been saved," the deputy chief said. No injuries have been reported, but the City of Victoria asked locals to stay away, if possible, due to poor air quality. The Coast Guard has also laid booms in the harbour to stem runoff from firefighters' hoses flowing into the ocean. More than two dozen firefighters were on scene working to control the fire on Pandora Avenue. (Michael McArthur/CBC) Atkinson said the building is "too far gone" for crews to get inside and do a structural assessment. He believes further collapse is still a possibility. "A fire of this scope is going to continue to burn for a long period of time.... We'll be here for a few more hours at least," he said, speaking to reporters just before 11 a.m. The damage to the old Plaza Hotel is becoming more visible as the smoke dies down. Fire crews say the buildings to the south have been saved except for some fire and water damage. #yyj pic.twitter.com/OIhCAMwvZt —@meganTcbc Fire 'could be' suspicious When asked if the fire was being treated as suspicious, Bruce hinted that was at least being considered. "It could be," he said. "I hate to speculate on what the cause was, but you know, the fact is it was quite a significant fire to evolve that quickly. [It] certainly leads us to think that, you know, there could have been some assistance." It's a smoky morning downtown as firefighters work to extinguish a fire in the former Plaza Hotel building pic.twitter.com/gXuLfCnaEF —@lizziepetra Atkinson said flames were first spotted in the building's basement. People staying in vacation rentals next door told CBC News they were woken by fire alarms around 4 a.m. "It's pretty crazy to see," said Brendan Hessels, who was in Victoria on a work trip from the city of Duncan on Monday morning. "It's kind of a sight to see downtown, so close to everything, such big flames and all the force from the Victoria Fire Department ... You don't see that often," he said, holding his phone up to stream the fire to friends and family on Facebook. "It's a very old building. A lot of history burning down in Victoria right now." All of the buildings on Government Street between Pandora Avenue and Johnson Street have been evacuated and the roads around the block are closed. Bike lanes are closed and bus routes are affected. Fire downtown, in the old Monty’s building. #yyj pic.twitter.com/KQjAMOERHi —@giordanasaur City hall, which is less than a block from the fire, was shut down just before 10 a.m. due to the air quality and road closures in the area. Bruce said the closures could last beyond Monday. "Definitely the smoke is a concern," he said. "There's really very little we can do about it other than let it dissipate and try and get the fire out quickly." The Plaza Hotel, which has been permanently closed since 2013, once housed Monty's Showroom Pub and the Cabin 12 restaurant. The complex had recently been eyed for development.<doc-sep>City engineers determined that portions of the northern and eastern walls needed to fall Demolition begins Wednesday afternoon on the remains of a building ravaged by a fire that started Monday in the old Plaza Hotel. (Nicole Crescenzi/News Staff) Demolition begins Wednesday afternoon on the remains of a building ravaged by a fire that started Monday in the old Plaza Hotel. (Nicole Crescenzi/News Staff) As charred beams continued to smoulder on Wednesday afternoon, city engineers and demolition specialists tore away at the walls of the remnants of the Plaza Hotel. The first two storeys of the northern and eastern walls are set to come down to ensure safety for the public and the ensuing fire inspection team. READ MORE: Fire ravages empty downtown Victoria building The heritage building at 603 Pandora Ave. caught fire early Monday morning with a rapidity that is raising red flags. Timber!! The top floors of the walls are coming down to ensure Public Safety @VictoriaNews #yyj pic.twitter.com/XhKEoiWq0h — Nicole Crescenzi (@NicoleCrescenzi) May 8, 2019 While Victoria Fire Chief Paul Bruce wouldn’t confirm that arson was suspected, he said that once crews are in they will be searching for signs of a fire accelerant. “Certainly from my perspective the fire spread, and to be that quick… that fire was either burning undetected for a long time, or there was rapid fire spread,” Bruce said. Most of the smoke continued to arise on Wednesday from a stack of mattresses in the south-east corner of the building. ALSO READ: Downtown Victoria building failed two fire inspections before catching fire Fire crews were having trouble accessing the area, due to rubble and safety concerns about surrounding walls. City of Victoria director of engineering Fraser Works said that teams are now working to gain access to those hot spots in order for firefighters to get more water on the remaining flames. “We have to work to move with precarious loads that are up high that have the risks of falling on the operators of the machinery, or potentially into the streets, or potentially pulling down the existing buildings to the south,” Work said. “So, there’s no confidence right now in any of the structural elements of that facility.” Bruce also said that they need to be mindful that the missing caretaker, Mike Daeger, could be within the rubble. READ MORE: One man missing in relation to downtown Victoria fire “We’re conscious of the possibility that somebody could have been in the building,” Bruce said. “We’re gingerly taking our time and are conscious of that.” Fire crews have been taking steps to rule out whether a person was in the building or not, using drones and ladders to look into every window, and while no one has been found so far there are no final conclusions on Draeger’s whereabouts. READ MORE: Former coworker finds it strange that caretaker is missing after fire “We’ve done everything humanly possible to try to determine if we could locate anybody or if there was any kind of presence in that building,” Bruce said. Bruce hopes the fire will be out by the end of Wednesday. The surrounding area, including the Government Street block between Johnson Street and Pandora Avenue will remain closed off until there’s more confidence in the building’s structure. nicole.crescenzi@vicnews.com The walls are coming down at 603 Pandora Ave. (Nicole Crescenzi/News Staff) The walls are coming down at 603 Pandora Ave. (Nicole Crescenzi/News Staff) The walls are coming down at 603 Pandora Ave. (Nicole Crescenzi/News Staff) The walls are coming down at 603 Pandora Ave. (Nicole Crescenzi/News Staff)<doc-sep>
Days after flames tore through a vacant hotel in Victoria, one man is still missing and smoke lingers, forcing the closure of city hall and several other businesses. The fire in the former Victoria Plaza Hotel has also forced the closure of Government Street, a main route through the city, while firefighters continue to pour water onto the smoking rubble. Fire broke out early Monday, flared up Tuesday and continued to smolder Wednesday as the century-old building becomes increasing unstable. One wall collapsed and the roof caved in at the height of the fire, while guests at a neighbouring hotel were forced to evacuate as that building suffered smoke and water damage from the blaze next door. No one was hurt in the evacuation but the search continues for the Victoria Plaza caretaker, who hasn't been seen since the fire and is sometimes known to stay in the old hotel. Fire officials are working with Victoria police and the building's owner in an effort to trace the caretaker. City hall closed Several businesses and city hall were shut down as choking smoke descended on the downtown core Monday and a post on the city's website said the building would remain closed though Wednesday for smoke remediation. Fire Chief Paul Bruce says the smoke contains everything from wood particles to carbons and chemicals that are released from flooring and carpeting materials. Council and committee meetings were being held Wednesday in the Capital Regional District building, a block farther from the fire. Efforts were also continuing to save the facade of the Victoria Plaza but after the flare-up Tuesday, Bruce said it was a losing battle. "We're a little concerned about floor plates and joists that have now failed, which will create more instability. As hard as we are trying to save the facade, it seems to be an increasingly difficult task," he said. An additional excavator was brought in Tuesday night to help firefighters ensure the flames were completely out, the city said on its website. Fencing keeps onlookers at bay, while signs warn "do not enter, collapse zone." The fire's cause remains under investigation, but the building must be assessed for safety and stability before investigators can enter.