UPDATED WITH PICTURES AND VIDEO Sturgeon Mayor: "It's devastating. It's our heart and soul"

West Nipissing Mayor Joanne Savage says her community will feel a "major impact" following a massive downtown fire in Sturgeon Falls Thursday evening.

"It will have a major negative impact for the economy of the municipality," she told BayToday this morning.

"That's our heart and soul of people that have been dedicated for years and years. It affects their source of income, a number of jobs, tenants that lost all their personal belongings."

Even businesses close by that did not burn will likely lose their entire inventory to smoke and water damage.

"It's a strong community that pulls together because even during this tragedy last night people were already extending hands to people that were being evacuated, homes were being opened, the church."

Savage says a number of groups are already talking about fundraising events to assist the victims of the blaze.

"We need to remain strong. We need to remain confident and continue to provide support."

A fire crew remains on-scene this morning, but there is still no indication of a cause.

Savage praised their efforts.

"The fire crew has worked diligently and very hard from the moment it started and we're very appreciative for the fire department we have in West Nipissing and the many volunteers that put their lives on the line to be able to save and protect. For them it was a mission to save as much as they could and they did a phenomenal job."

Fire Chief Richard Miranda said this morning, "We're still dealing with spot fires. Because the roof and floor collapsed, they are concealed. The rain does not really help at this point with a structure fire. It actually keeps the fire from flaming up. so we can't see it."

The Chief was understandably emotional.

"I know the people involved. It's hard. I know the whole community is going to be strong about this."

See original story: Big fire in Sturgeon Falls.

King Street will likely not re-open today says the Mayor.

"There's a lot of cleanup that needs to take place, so to ensure safety they are going to make sure it stays closed for the time required to execute it."

No-one was injured in the fire, and so far no estimate of damage.

Our friends at The Tribune posted this on their Facebook page.

"I have no words, it's devastation for so many local businesses and residents. I think our building is safe, though we will have to wait until tomorrow to assess the damage. The firefighters are still there working so hard, they are doing a terrific job under difficult circumstances. We managed to get our archives and some computers out of the building, saving about 50 years of local history that would have been irreplaceable. Now we wait and hope for rain, and we are thankful no one was hurt."

The local radio station was also destroyed.

Moose GM Peter Hobbs posted, "We just moved into our brand new West Nipissing studios in June.... Final renovations were completed this week. Everything burnt down last night, along with a number of neighboring businesses. Fortunately, no one was hurt."

Meanwhile the H & R Block business was also destroyed. Client files at this location are being transferred to the H&R Block office located at 116 Main Street in North Bay.

The fire was caught on video by Clint Lamarre, who shared the video on the Moose FM 99.3 Facebook page.