Carolynne Sacht and Cheryl Ward are frightened and bewildered by a fire that left an outdoor community bookcase as a burned-out shell and its books in a pile of soggy black ashes Wednesday.
The sisters, who built the outdoor book exchange in October 2014 at the corner of Campbell and Pine streets from their father's old gun cabinet as a gift to their neighbourhood and to promote literacy, said they were alerted to the blaze by someone driving by at about 9 p.m.
"This is terrible," Ward said. "We went to a lot of work. I mean, that was our father's gun cabinet. It was 40 years old, leaded glass, unbelievable."
Several people a day would come by to pick up, exchange books or sometimes just sit and read on a wooden bench the women set next to the cabinet, among decorative plants, community notices and colourful little birdhouses that made a shady reading oasis under a chestnut tree next to Sacht's home. The bookcase was part of a network of community outdoor book exchanges created across Nanaimo around that time.
"I looked out the window and there were flames 10 feet high," Sacht said.
Umesh Lal, Nanaimo Fire Rescue fire prevention officer investigating the fire, couldn't comment on the investigation, which has been turned over to the RCMP, but said a neighbour expended two fire extinguishers on the fire before firefighters arrived.
The women are worried about other outdoor libraries in their neighbourhood.
"Everybody is committed to this," Ward said. "Lots of people are setting these things up, so what does this mean - we've got some jerk going around setting fires?"
Police investigators, as of Thursday morning, had no suspects, said Const. Gary O'Brien, Nanaimo RCMP spokesman, but hope someone saw something around the time of the fire.
Mitch Miller, who lives at the corner of Campbell and Machleary streets, said in a neighbourhood with little vandalism, "wanton destruction of this kind is disturbing" and he has started a door-to-door canvassing campaign in the neighbourhood to raise money for a Crime Stoppers reward to help catch the person responsible.
"Hopefully we can catch this person before they do something even worse," Miller said.
To make a donation, please visit www.nanaimocrimestoppers.com.
Anyone with information about this fire, please call the Nanaimo RCMP at 250-754-2345 or contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477, text 274637, keyword Nanaimo or submit a tip online at www.nanaimocrimestoppers.com.