Burning van might have been driven away: RCMP

"IT WAS KIND OF WEIRD"

By Shannon Quesnel

Someone in Penticton might have been driving a burning van last night.

At 4:28 a.m. the Penticton Fire Department was told a vehicle was burning on Columbia Street. When a fire truck and its crew arrived at the scene there was no sign of the vehicle. Only some smoking materials and two gas cans were present.

A second firefighter crew spotted the burning van at 1550 Duncan Avenue. They were on their way to Columbia Street.

Deputy Fire Chief Dave Spalding says the green Plymouth van was engulfed in flame when firefighters began dousing it. No injuries were reported.

“It was kind of weird,” Spalding says, finding a burning van at a different location than what was reported.

RCMP Sgt. Rick Dellebuur might have an answer.

He says the witness reports a man and a woman entered the van while it might have been burning. How much the vehicle was on fire at that time is unknown. Witnesses say the two exited the vehicle after it stopped on Duncan Avenue.

Dellebuur says no charges have been made and the police are continuing to investigate.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Shannon Quesnel at squesnel@infotelnews.ca or call 250-488-3065.