Lyonel Doherty, Times Chronicle

At least three suspicious fires on one property in Oliver are “interconnected,” according to the fire chief.

Bob Graham told the Times Chronicle that an early morning fire on April 30 totally destroyed a home on the corner of Co-op Avenue and Sawmill Road – the same place where a garage/workshop was suspiciously destroyed by fire on March 6. In addition, a suspicious fire previously burned a large tree on the property.

Graham said the latest fire broke out at 12:15 a.m. and totally engulfed the home, which had been vacant for some time.

“It was fully involved; fire coming out of every window and through the roof.”

Graham said their plan of attack was defensive to ensure it didn’t expand much farther than some trees on the property.

Crews were actioning the blaze for three hours on Saturday and were called back Monday morning to extinguish some smouldering debris.

“There’s a couple of feet of ash debris and that’s going to smoulder for a while,” the chief said.

No injuries were reported in the fire.

Graham said they have no idea of the origin or the cause, but it was “definitely suspicious.”

The chief was asked if there is any evidence to suggest there is someone in Oliver deliberately setting fires, considering their suspicious nature.

“I would say the three that were on this piece of property would probably be interconnected. The rest of the fires throughout the area are not at all connected.”

Graham said several other fires were accidental, however, he referred to the one at TPD Boutique north of Oliver as arson, but noted it was not connected to Saturday’s fire.

There was also a suspicious fire at Oliver Global Grocers in March.

Graham said the fires on Co-op Avenue are certainly a concern.

“We hope that this doesn’t escalate into something where other properties are at risk.”

The chief said the Co-op Avenue property is an area known as a hangout for transients and/or homeless people. But he rejected the idea that individuals were living in the home at the time and accidentally set a fire.

“I don’t think this was accidental.”

Graham said someone was reportedly observed running away from the scene.

Oliver RCMP Sgt. Don Wrigglesworth said police are investigating the incident.

“My only thought about a connection to the other one on the property is that it is on the same connected property.”

In a related matter, the commander reported that a man and woman were arrested on scene later that day for allegedly assaulting an individual with rocks and a knife.

“The caller advised that he attended to the fire scene and found a male and female scrounging around amongst the ruins,” Wrigglesworth said.  “He told them to leave and he was threatened by the male who threw rocks at him and the female pulled a knife on him and threatened him.”

There were no injuries during the incident.

Police located and arrested a 42-year-old male and a 36-year-old female without incident.  Both were released on condition they appear for a court date on June 15.

(Photo by Alec Wolff)

Firefighters extinguish smouldering debris that flared up on Monday morning.
(Photo by Lyonel Doherty)

(Photo by Lyonel Doherty)