The 14-year-old boy accused of setting the fire that destroyed a Dollarama store and damaged many other businesses in a north Waterloo plaza made his second court appearance Monday.

The boy, who cannot be named under the terms of the Youth Criminal Justice Act, was ordered to remain in custody.

He returns to court next week.

The charges against the 14-year-old are arson endangering human life and possession of an incendiary device.

If he is tried as a teen, legal experts say, the harshest penalty likely is three years in prison.

He could also be tried as an adult, where the maximum sentence for arson endangering human life is life in prison.

Parkdale Plaza at Albert Street and Bearinger Road has not reopened to the public since Friday’s fire.

It also hasn’t been reopened to business owners like Greg Watson, whose Water Depot store had opened to the public only weeks earlier.

Unable to access the building due to the ongoing investigation into the fire, Watson instead peered through his store’s windows to take stock of the damage.

“My tiles are a lot darker grey than they should be – there’s some sort of soot or oily residue all over them,” he said.

“There’s obviously a lot of damage in there.

Watson’s store is located two units down from Dollarama, where the fire began and where it dealt the bulk of its damage.

Waterloo fire chief Richard Hepditch said Monday that the fire itself was “essentially contained to Dollarama,” but heat and smoke damage affected other businesses in the plaza.

There was no sprinkler system in the building, he said.

Insurance adjustors and building inspectors were on-site for most of the day Monday, tallying up the damage and determining what repairs are necessary before the plaza can reopen.

An electrical contractor and the Electrical Safety Authority were also at the plaza, working to restore power.

Contractor Tony Toth said he hoped electricity could be restored by late Tuesday or early Wednesday.

Friday’s fire is believed to be the biggest in Waterloo in the past five years.

Damage is estimated to be somewhere in the millions of dollars.