Two buildings are gutted after an early morning fire in Osoyoos on Saturday.
Osoyoos fire chief Rick Jones said they were called out to the Victory Church thrift store on Main Street around 8:48 a.m.
"All the windows were dark and the building was filled with smoke. As soon as we opened the door we could see the flames inside and the battle started," said Jones.
The majority of the smoke was coming from the Victory Church store, but the adjacent building, the Dollar Smart store, was being consumed by the fire as well. Jones said fire crews finished fighting the blaze around 4 p.m. but were called back out Monday morning around 4:30 a.m. because there was a small flare up.
"Right now it is in the investigating stage. The fire commission office is coming down from Kamloops and they are going to speak with us to help determine the cause. If items have to be sent away for testing it could take awhile before the cause can be determined," said Jones, adding they are still in the preliminary stages of the investigation and no dollar value could be estimated on the loss.
The fire department kept the fire from spreading to other neighbouring business whose firewalls also prevented the fire from jumping into their buildings
"The whole structure of the thrift store was involved from the basement to the roof. The CIBC, Lakeside Travel and a dental clinic all suffered smoke damage and some had water damage," said Jones.