'We have lost everything:' Shops destroyed, crime scene declared at Inala centre

Several shops in Brisbane's south-west have reportedly been destroyed after a blaze tore through a shopping centre on Saturday morning.

Regional duty officer for Brisbane Inspector Rob Graham said the burnt remains of the Civic Centre has been declared a crime scene.

Fire fighters were called to Civic Centre on the corner of Wirraway Parade and Corsair Avenue about 1.30am following reports of a commercial structure fire.

"There's 10 businesses that have been well and truly damaged or destroyed, potentially this whole block might have to get locked down, those assessments will occur over the next few days," Inspector Graham said.

"It's a crime scene, that's been established .

"We're not saying it's suspicious, but we're treating it as suspicious until proven otherwise."

Inspector Graham said it was understood the blaze started in the chemist, but investigators would not enter the site until smoke stopped.

"There is some concern there might be some asbestos or foreign stuff in there," he said.

"At the moment we're working with Ergon Energy to try and isolate power to surround buildings so that their stock doesn't go off.

"It's a bit of a challenge because it's old infrastructure.

"Even if we get the power back onto those businesses they won't operate until that smoke stops."

Inspector Graham said one of the biggest loses in the fire was the medical centre.

"It's one of the biggest medical centres in this community and it bulk bills so a lot of community people will be disadvantaged by that," he said.

Medical Centre owner Dr Michael Ho got off a plane at 8am this morning to receive messages of the bad news, his business premises is likely to have been completely destroyed.

"We have lost everything," Dr Ho said.

"Luckily we will have patient files as we are fully computerised, so we will have back up.

Dr Ho said he was now just waiting to access his business to see the damage.

"At the moment the fire brigade are the only ones in because it's still burning and the structure is going to collapse soon.

"At the moment it's completely destroyed so we don't have any option but to look for another location.

"We have staff hard at work looking for a nearby building so we can do something and hopefully we can start seeing our patients in a week or two."

A Queensland Fire and Emergency Services spokeswoman said multiple crews attended and arrived to find the single-storey shopping plaza ablaze.

Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk said she was shocked and saddened to see what had happened to the shopping centre.

"This is the heart of Inala really, this is where everyone comes and does their shopping, this is where everyone comes to meet, so of course it's a tragedy," she said.

"But thankfully, at this stage, no reported injury or loss of life."

Ms Palaszczuk said the loss of the bulk billing medical centre was a big loss for the community.

"We'll be seeing what other medical services are available in the community to help until they can rebuild of find alternative accommodation," she said.

Local councillor Charles Strunk said he would talk to the council City Planning chairman to make sure council could help with any future planning applications for the centre.

"This is about people's lives, this is about people's wages," Cr Strunk said.

"Anything we can do as a council to help with the restoration application wise, we will certainly pull out all stops."