It could have been a lot worse.

That's the word on the $1 million fire police say was deliberately set by three young teenagers at the Brampton Mall Thursday evening.

"The guys (firefighters) did a great job containing it," said Brampton fire investigator David Pelayo on the scene Friday morning. "We're lucky we didn't lose the whole mall."

Instead, their quick work contained the flames inside the Movie Experts video store and one quarter of the Shoppers Drug Mart next door. The rest of the damage- to eight stores in total, including a Salvation Army Thrift shop- was smoke damage to the stores' stock.

Worse still, a concrete ceiling in an underground delivery corridor- where it is believed the fire was set- started buckling under the intense heat, dropping 6 to 8 inches.

It didn't collapse, but if it had, it could have killed one of the firefighters searching the maze of corridors looking for possible victims.

"It was extremely dangerous," Pelayo said.  "We're lucky we didn't lose somebody last night."
Instead, no one was reported injured, but it is not known when the mall will re-open.
The stores in the mall were open when the fire started, but everyone escaped unharmed, according to Peel police.

Three Brampton boys aged 13, 14 and 15 were arrested two hours after the fire was reported. They have been charged with arson and breaking and...