A fire at Truffles Catering in Brentwood Bay drew a large emergency response Thursday evening, with many in the community fearing nearby Victoria Butterfly Gardens may have been affected.
Crews from Central Saanich Fire Department, assisted by Saanich Fire Department, were called to the blaze at around 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, June 25th, at Truffles Catering on Benvenuto Avenue.
The catering facility shares a building with Victoria Butterfly Gardens, prompting concern for the attraction’s thousands of butterflies, tropical birds and other animals.
In an update shared shortly after 10 p.m., Central Saanich Fire Department said firefighters had successfully knocked down the blaze and remained on scene extinguishing hotspots.
“At this time there has been no impact to the birds and butterflies at Butterfly Gardens, which is attached,” the department said.
Victoria Butterfly Gardens provided further reassurance Friday morning, confirming the attraction would remain open as usual.
“Our hearts go out to our neighbours, Truffles Catering, who suffered an extensive fire last night in their building next door,” the attraction wrote on social media. “Victoria Butterfly Gardens will be open today, as usual. No animals or people were harmed.”
The popular Brentwood Bay attraction has been converted into a tropical rainforest environment that can support thousands of free-flying butterflies, exotic plants and wildlife.
Truffles Catering also shared an update Friday morning.
“Thankfully nobody was in the building at the time so everyone is safe and healthy,” the company said. “We have already begun taking immediate steps to shift operations to other facilities whilst we await an assessment of the damage.”
The business added that its phone lines are currently down and asked customers needing assistance to contact them through social media or their existing company contact.
The fire also briefly impacted nearby power service. According to BC Hydro’s outage map, approximately five customers in the 1400-block of Benvenuto Avenue lost power for a short time, including the building itself.
In an emailed statement to Victoria Buzz, Central Saanich Police Deputy Chief Constable Paul Douglas said detectives are working closely with fire investigators to determine the origin and cause of the fire.
Thursday night’s incident occurred only steps away from the site of another major fire that devastated Brentwood Bay earlier this month.
On June 6th, Garden Fork Restaurant on West Saanich Road was destroyed in a massive overnight fire.
Police and fire investigators continue working to determine the cause of that blaze and have appealed to the public for information to help establish a timeline of events leading up to the fire.
The cause of Thursday night’s fire at Truffles Catering remains under investigation.
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