Two days after a fire that tore through the Victoria Plaza Hotel building started, firefighters continue to douse flames. There is a haze of smoke at ground level, but the amount of smoke billowing from the scene has cleared significantly. An excavator brought in Tuesday was back to work Wednesday to move around smoking debris and help firefighters put the flames out. By the afternoon, part of the front facade of the former hotel was taken down. Part of the front facade of the former Plaza Hotel is taken down in #yyj. Government Street will remain closed, and no time line for when residents of adjacent building can return. @CHEK_News pic.twitter.com/ZjmfCK7j5J — Mary Griffin (@Mary_Griffin_) May 8, 2019 Unbelievably difficult work underway by crews at site of former Plaza Hotel. Smoke from fire still burning underneath as they are trying to carefully, safely, take down walls. @CHEK_News pic.twitter.com/Xrnd2jI0AM — Mary Griffin (@Mary_Griffin_) May 8, 2019 Government Street remains closed between Johnson Street and Pandora Avenue. City of Victoria engineer Fraser Work says basement of former Plaza Hotel extends to curb of the street and is a significant structural risk. City of Victoria engineer Fraser Work says basement of former Plaza Hotel extends to curb. It is a significant structural risk, therefore Government Street will remain closed. @CHEK_News pic.twitter.com/I6heQCUYFo — Mary Griffin (@Mary_Griffin_) May 8, 2019 Pandora was fully reopened Tuesday. The City of Victoria said because of smoke remediation, City Hall is closed again Wednesday and Thursday’s Council meeting and Committee of the Whole will be moved to the Capital Regional District Building on Fisgard. Analysts say smoke from a structure fire like this is filled with high levels of particulate matter from burning carbon, and almost always contains a variety of chemicals. READ MORE: Experts advise to avoid toxic smoke near downtown Victoria Plaza Hotel fire Experts advise those in the downtown area to stay indoors and avoid strenuous activity like running or cycling and consider wearing a mask for anyone with respiratory issues. CHEK Newsletter Sign up for our newsletter to get breaking news and daily digests sent to your email. Email Address Sign Up Beyond the borders of the downtown centre, experts say the smoke is dissipating and doesn’t pose a health risk. The more-than-century-old building went up in flames Monday. Crews were alerted only after the alarm went off from a neighbouring building so by the time crews arrived, the fire in the basement was significant and accelerating quickly. Victoria fire chief Paul Bruce said Tuesday that it is too early to say if the fire is arson and until the fire is completely out, a thorough search will have to wait. Still unaccounted for is the building’s caretaker, Mike Draeger, who periodically stayed there. Anyone who knows how to contact him is asked to call VicPD at 250-995-7654.<doc-sep>WATCH: The Victoria Plaza Hotel’s had many names over the years and more than a century of memories. Tess van Straaten takes a look back at the building’s long and colourful history. Long-time Monty’s staff can’t believe the Victoria Plaza Hotel is gone. “It’s a little bit crazy and upsetting,” says an emotional Wayne Kalnciems. “I’m not going to lie, it’s sad too see a place I’ve made so many friends and worked for such a long time gone.” Kalnciems started DJ’ing at Monty’s Exotic Showroom in 1996. “I was the voice of Monty’s for so many years, being the DJ,” says Kalnciems. “I was there for everyone’s 19th birthday or stag party.” Monty’s opened in 1984, one of several popular night spots to call this historic building home. “I’m very sad to see it burn down,” says former Monty’s bouncer Tony Hayes. “I saw it the last night there, when we shutdown, but to see the actual building like this burn down is sad.” Before being gutted by fire, the building was vacant for six years. But the loss is hitting hard for those with a connection to the landmark. “It’s the end of an era,” says former Monty’s dancer ‘Delicatease’, breaking down. “Just a lot of good times and a lot of good memories.” The original structure, the Westholme Hotel, opened in 1911 to much fanfare. But by the 1920s and 30s, its rooms were said to be favoured by prostitutes. A rebirth as the Century Inn came in 1965 with an over-the-top Arabian Nights theme — complete with a ‘magic carpet’ parking service. CHEK Newsletter Sign up for our newsletter to get breaking news and daily digests sent to your email. Email Address Sign Up In keeping with the theme, staff sported turbans and harem outfits right out of I Dream of Jeannie. The hotel’s exotic Persian Lounge was a popular spot for years and so was Ali Baba’s Cocktail Lounge and the Centurion Beer Parlour. There was even a working model of the nearby Centennial Square fountain in the lobby. The hotel’s heyday ended in the 1980s and after several names changes, it became the Victoria Plaza in 1988. And now, a century of memories have gone up in smoke. “I just wanted to come down and take one last look,” Kalnciems says. “One last goodbye.”<doc-sep>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>Send this page to someone via email Share this item on Twitter Share this item via WhatsApp Share this item on Facebook Victoria police are investigating last week’s fire at the old Plaza Hotel, calling it “suspicious.” On Monday afternoon, police received a search warrant for the property located on Pandora Avenue in the heart of downtown Victoria. Investigators from Victoria police and the fire department were on the site Monday and will be there for a few weeks. WATCH: New developments in Victoria hotel fire 2:02 New developments in Victoria hotel fire New developments in Victoria hotel fire – May 10, 2019 Fire ripped through the old hotel, which had stood for roughly a century but had been empty for around six years. Story continues below advertisement The building’s caretaker has not been seen since the fire. Plans were in place to potentially turn the building into condominiums. —With files from Sean Boynton<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.