Victoria firefighters returning from an unrelated call noticed smoke coming from the Turner building on Richmond Road near Fort Street around 4am on Wednesday.
It turned out to be a fire that took much of the day to deal with.
"Our captain made the decision to pull over and investigate further. Upon that initial investigation we determined that certainly there was something burning inside that structure," says Victoria Fire Chief Dan Atkinson
The building, in the Jubilee neighbourhood, has long been boarded up. Longtime residents will remember it as the location of the former Ian's Coffee Shop. Atkinson says the state of the old building created "challenging conditions" to work with and it took several hours to put it out.. Six trucks and 18-personael responded.
Atkinson says it's unclear what caused the fire. There was no power to the building so it's unlikely electrical. However, Atkinson says he's aware that squatters have used the building in the past and it's something they'll investigate.