While huge wildfires rip through parts of the Okanagan destroying countless homes and shattering lives, some people in the region are out there deliberately starting fires.

In the last few weeks, the RCMP across the region have reported at least nine suspicious fires, with five arrests made and four individuals being charged.

In the last week in the Vernon area alone, three women have been arrested and charged with arson for allegedly deliberately starting fires.

West Kelowna resident Mariah Faye Banning Baer is facing half a dozen arson-related charges after two fires broke out in the Commonage Road area of Vernon Aug. 4.

Banning Baer, 33, also has another arson charge ticking through the court system from March 2025, and more recently was convicted for falsely reporting a fire.

Less than a week later, 35-year-old Vernon resident Jaylyn Raie Smith was taken into custody accused of setting fire to a newspaper box at Kin Beach before walking away. She’s currently in custody awaiting bail.

Back in 2019, Smith spent several months in jail for setting fire to a hedge. Her bipolar disorder and history of substance addiction were given as reasons for her behaviour in court.

Also in Vernon, Shelby Jackson, who appears to be an Abbotsford resident, was charged with arson in relation to a fire in the city on August 14. Details of the blaze aren’t known, and she remains in custody awaiting bail. Jackson, who is in her late twenties, has a criminal record, but not for arson.

In Penticton, 54-year-old Christopher Bruce Wirick is facing two charges of arson for fires he’s accused to have deliberately set two days apart at the end of July. He’s accused of setting fire to a garbage bin near Lakeshore Drive, and breaching his probation by having a cigarette lighter on him. Wirick has a criminal record, but hasn’t been charged with arson in BC.

In Salmon Arm on Aug. 8, the RCMP arrested an individual for causing a brush fire on the side of the Trans Canada Highway. Police reported the brush was fully engulfed in flames and threatening a nearby business before the blaze was extinguished. An arrest was made the following day, but it appears charges have yet to be laid.

Outside of the arrests made, police across the Okanagan have reported numerous other suspicious fires across the region in the last few weeks.

Kamloops RCMP are asking the public for information after an individual was seen cycling off from a dumpster fire near Wilson Street and Tranquille Road. Aug. 19.

Vernon RCMP are eager to speak to anyone with information about a morning grass fire in Becker Park Aug. 9, which they believe is suspicious. The fire was quickly brought under control by Vernon Fire Rescue Services.

A few days earlier, on Aug. 5 Kelowna RCMP reported a series of suspicious fires in the Black Mountain area. Police believe the fires were intentionally set in Gopher Creek Linear Park.

West Kelowna RCMP is also on the hunt for an individual who set fire to a porta-potty on Shannon Lake Road July 18. The fire spread to a nearby building before being put out. There was also a fire in a gazebo in the park which was put out by a passerby that day.

While charges and convictions for arson are relatively uncommon, the penalties can be severe, with the maximum jail period of 14 years.

In 2019, former Shuswap high school teacher William Munton was charged with 19 counts of arson and given three jails in jail for deliberately starting numerous fires around Vernon in 2014.