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Arson
Police investigating another suspicious fire in Vernon
VERNON - Police in Vernon are investigating another suspected arson, this time outside the curling club. RCMP Const. Jocelyn Noseworthy says the fire started in a pile of display panels used for hanging merchandise which were stacked at the rear of the building. The Vernon Fire Department managed to put out the blaze before it...
Vernon pet store posts video of arson suspect
VERNON – The owner of a Vernon pet story is hoping someone recognizes the man suspected of starting a fire on the Labour Day long weekend. A video taken by AJ’s Pets and Things security camera has been posted to the store’s Facebook page. Firefighters were called to the downtown store early in the morning...
Two suspicious fires under investigation in Vernon
VERNON - Police are taking two separate suspicious fires in Vernon very seriously. At this point, investigators can’t say if the pair of fires are connected, but RCMP Const. Jocelyn Noseworthy says these types of cases ‘take a very high priority’ at the detachment, particularly in light of a string of high profile unsolved arsons...
Suspicious fire at Vernon pet store
VERNON – RCMP has launched an arson investigation after a suspicious fire at a downtown Vernon pet store Sunday night. Vernon firefighters responded to a call around 6:20 a.m., Sept. 6, about smoke coming from AJ’s Pets and Things at 3219 31 Ave. Capt. Reinhard Mann says crews found a fire had been set at...
Young Kamloops arsonist caught
KAMLOOPS – Several front yards were set on fire early this morning in Brocklehurst when a suspect lit gasoline soaked paper in driveways. Around 1 a.m., today, July 28, Kamloops RCMP and Kamloops Fire Rescue were called to the 1100-block of Kamwood Place to investigate several yard fires. They found three small fires were lit...
Man facing multiple charges following arson at Kelowna law firm
KELOWNA - A Kelowna man has been charged after setting fire inside a law firm building in downtown Kelowna Monday morning. Cody Weninger, 22, has been charged with assault, resisting arrest and arson following the incident at Pihl Law Corporation on Ellis Street. Weninger entered the building around 10:20 a.m. yesterday, July 13, and set...
Man in jail after starting a fire in a Kelowna law office
KELOWNA - Police don’t have a motive for why a man tried to start a fire inside a downtown law firm earlier today. RCMP media spokesman Const. Steve Holmes says the man entered the Pihl Law Corporation building at 1465 Ellis St. and started a fire in some clothing on the third floor at about...
Suspicious fire damages businesses in Osoyoos
OSOYOOS - A fire at the back of a fitness facility and bowling alley on Highway 97 last week was deliberately set, according to Osoyoos RCMP. Around 3:45 a.m. on July 2 RCMP members noticed smoke coming from the rear of Vengeance Fitness and Kobau Lanes Bowling Alley on Highway 97. They found flames starting...
HELSTON: One tiny, burning ember can do a lot of damage
All of us were reminded this week how destructive fire can be, in so many different ways. On Tuesday night, we saw how fire can take down a building in mere hours, leaving nothing but ash and rubble. It’s awe-inspiring in the most horrific way. But the physical damage is just the beginning. When Vernon’s...
Vernon boat blaze one of many suspicious fires
VERNON – As police continue to investigate a rash of unsolved arsons from last summer,…
Kelowna RCMP searching for man linked to possible arson
KELOWNA - A fire at Boyd Autobody and Glass damaged four vehicles while a second fire on Bedford Avenue damaged a camper in April and now RCMP are looking to identify a man seen in surveillance footage from the area. In the early morning hours on April 10 the Kelowna Fire Department attended a fire...
Possible arson at Gatzke farm
LAKE COUNTRY – The owners of Gatzke Orchards are hoping someone knows how a suspicious fire started on their property Monday night. According to a post on their Facebook page, the fire started on the south end of the property on May 11 but was noticed before it could spread out of control. “Feeling a...
Garbage can fire forces evacuation of Kelowna recreation centre
KELOWNA - A garbage can burning in a washroom led to the evacuation of Parkinson Recreation Centre Monday evening. Platoon Capt. Steve Wallick says Kelowna Fire Department was called around 6:45 p.m., Monday, April 27, to alarm bells ringing and report of a fire, which burned in a garbage can in one of the washrooms...
Penticton gas station targeted by suspected arsonist
PENTICTON - A Penticton man is scheduled to appear in court charged with arson in connection with an early morning fire at a Husky gas station. Fire crews and police were called to the gas station on Fairview Road around 2:46 a.m., April 17. They arrived to find a fire on the outside the building,...
Stolen Lumby vehicle found scorched and shot up
LUMBY - Police are appealing to the public for tips after a stolen vehicle turned up torched and shot full of bullet holes last week. The vehicle, a silver 2000 Audi, was reported stolen from Catt Avenue in Lumby April 6. Two days later, it was found four kilometres up the Noble Canyon Forest Service...
Horse racing scrapped again; Vernon’s Kin Race Track in legal limbo
VERNON - It will be another quiet summer at Vernon’s historic horse racing track as plans for its future remain mired in uncertainty. Arson gutted Kin Race Track’s grandstands last summer, and without them the Okanagan Equestrian Society’s president says no events can be held. “Everything runs out of the grandstand,” Robert White says. The...
UPDATE: Suspicious car fires at Boyd’s under investigation
KELOWNA - A blaze at an autobody shop was one of two arson fires in Kelowna early this morning. RCMP say around 2:50 a.m., today, April 10, firefighters put out four burning cars at Boyd’s Autobody and Glass in the 1900 block of Dayton Street. A second fire on Bedford Avenue damaged a camper. “Police...
Police seek information on suspected arson in Rutland
KELOWNA - An early-morning fire that significantly damaged a townhouse on Kneller Road on the weekend may have been arson. The occupants of the townhouse were home when the fire started just after midnight, March 29, but managed to escape unharmed. A Kelowna Fire Department crew extinguished the fire shortly after arriving, but not before...
Molotov cocktail chucked at Vernon church
VERNON - Police and the Fire Department are investigating after a molotov cocktail was thrown at the Vernon Family Church Monday night. Deputy Fire Chief Lawrie Skolrood says a nearby resident noticed a large flame around 7:30 p.m. outside the church, located on 25 Avenue, and phoned 911. “It’s very fortunate the building was stucco...
Signature look leads to arson conviction
KAMLOOPS – The video evidence may have been grainy, but it was an accused man’s white Stetson cowboy hat that turned his arson charge into a conviction. Kamloops Provincial Court Judge Stephen Harrison convicted Mannie Shaw Stewart of arson damaging the McCracken Station Pub’s property after reviewing video evidence of the event and hearing from...
Community centre set to reopen nearly 18 months after arson
WEST KELOWNA - The Westbank Lions Community Centre, the unofficial meeting place for the West Kelowna community, has officially recovered after being destroyed by fire nearly 18 months ago. The hall was set on fire in September 2013 and while it was initially thought it would need to be torn down the structure was able...
Vernon RCMP investigate suspicious fire
VERNON - Police are following up on a suspicious dumpster bin fire. RCMP spokesperson Gord Molendyk says it appears someone set cardboard on fire inside a dumpster around 6:45 p.m. Jan. 17 in the 2300 block of 36 Avenue. Several people noticed the fire, but no one saw who started it. There was no damage...
NEWSMAKERS 2014: String of arsons go down as worst in recent memory
THIS WEEK, INFONEWS.CA IS COUNTING DOWN THE TOP FIVE STORIES OF THE YEAR. TODAY: NUMBER THREE VERNON - Authorities called it the worst fire-setting spree in recent memory, and with the close of 2014, we still don’t know who’s responsible. Over 20 fires were set across the city this past year, beginning in late spring...
Salmon Arm arsonist sentenced to jail time
SALMON ARM - Justice has been served in a devastating arson case out of Salmon Arm. Adam Michael Schultz, 39, torched Pedro’s Fruit Stand in September 2013, burning the popular family business to the ground. He was sentenced in Salmon Arm Provincial Court Monday. At the time he was arrested, police said he was also...