Police in Nanaimo are investigating after a person experiencing homelessness saw his possessions torched, with the ensuing fire damaging a funeral parlour.
First responders were called to Evergreen Cremation Centre at 164 Nicol St. in Nanaimo at 12:15 a.m. Saturday, Aug. 26 after a report of a structure fire, said reserve Const. Gary O’Brien, Nanaimo RCMP spokesperson.
“We responded along with Nanaimo Fire Rescue, they were able to extinguish the fire … it was creeping up the outside of the building,” O’Brien told the News Bulletin. “It appears that, for unknown reasons, somebody had set fire to the belongings of a [marginalized person]. We found the individual, whose belongings were set on fire, he was fine, nothing untoward about that.”
There are no suspects, but video surveillance footage shows a pair of individuals fleeing the scene, according to O’Brien, who also credited fast response from firefighters.
Geoff Whiting, Nanaimo Fire Rescue deputy fire chief, said the fire didn’t penetrate the inside of the building.
“There wasn’t really anything in the interior to put out, but it did get into the walls and the roof system,” said Whiting. “So really it involved a fairly extensive overhaul in terms of cutting into the wall and to the roof so we could put out the fire that had spread to the structure of the building.”
The person had no idea why someone would set their possessions on fire, said O’Brien, and the incident is “troubling.”
“We know there’s been a number of fires set in our community,” said O’Brien. “We made an arrest in one (recent fire) on Wentworth Street,” said O’Brien. “We’re always concerned about people doing copycats or other fires because it’s so tinder-dry out there.”
The investigation is ongoing.
Anyone with information on the incident is asked to call Nanaimo RCMP’s non-emergency line at 250-754-2345, citing file No. 2023-29730.
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