Rash of fires spark concern

VERNON – A series of suspicious fires has police appealing to the public for information.

The most recent of the suspected arsons include a vacant building and porta-potty set ablaze Sunday and Monday. Police continue to investigate a pair of suspicious dumpster fires from early May, as well as a chain of unsolved arsons from last summer.

The vacant building fire was in the area of 24 Avenue and 34 A Street. The empty building was boarded up and no one was found in the area. The Fire Department suspects the fire started near the door, which was the only damaged area.

“This was the second Vernon area vacant building fire in a week, coupled with two recent dumpster fires in the same south end of the city,” RCMP spokesperson Gord Molendyk says. “The police and the Vernon Fire Department are very concerned about this rash of fires.”

The porta-potty fire May 19 was located on Terrapin Place next to a construction site. When police arrived at the scene, the porta-potty was completely melted, leaving only a pool of plastic. A nearby pile of plywood also caught fire, but a nearby house was unaffected.

Police are asking anyone with information about the fires to call the Fire Department, the Vernon RCMP at 250-545-7171 or remain anonymous by calling Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.

To contact the reporter for this story, email Charlotte Helston at chelston@infotelnews.ca or call 250-309-5230. To contact the editor, email mjones@infotelnews.ca or call 250-718-2724.