Historic Vernon post office damaged by suspicious fire

A historic 140-year-old Vernon building was damaged this morning by fire.

Vernon fire department quickly extinguished the flames after receiving a call about the fire at roughly 8:30 a.m. today, June 7.

The fire damaged the exterior walls of Vernon's first post office, a log cabin built in 1884, located next to the Lower BX Creek in the 3000 block of 31 Avenue, across the street from the Schubert Centre.

Fire crews kept the flames from spreading to nearby trees.

"The fire caused minor damage to the exterior and roof of the building, but crews stopped it from spreading to the interior," Vernon Fire Rescue deputy fire chief Alan Hofsink said in a media release. "No injuries were reported during the incident."

Vernon Fire Rescue says the fire has been deemed suspicious and the file handed over to Vernon North Okanagan RCMP.

No other information has been released.

SUBMITTED/City of Vernon


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Ben Bulmer

After a decade of globetrotting, U.K. native Ben Bulmer ended up settling in Canada in 2009. Calling Vancouver home he headed back to school and studied journalism at Langara College. From there he headed to Ottawa before winding up in a small anglophone village in Quebec, where he worked for three years at a feisty English language newspaper. Ben is always on the hunt for a good story, an interesting tale and to dig up what really matters to the community.