NORTH Vancouver RCMP have arrested a man they say was responsible for a series of arsons early Thursday morning.
Firefighters were called to seven small blazes along Westview Drive and Bewicke Avenue between 2: 45 and 4 a.m.
The first several fires were set in patches of grass and garbage cans near the Westview Shopping Centre. The culprit moved south, lighting a carpet in the back of a pickup truck parked at 23rd Street, debris at the base of a tree in the 2500block of Westview, and finally, an older BMW convertible parked at Bewicke and 15th.
Police fanned out over the area and arrested the suspect before 5 a.m. He remained in custody Thursday afternoon. Police are looking to charge him with several counts of arson. Thankfully, no one was hurt in any of the incidents.
"These arson charges are serious, and the police are treating them as a high priority. Public safety is paramount and all resources and investigative tools are being utilized to bring closure to this case," said Cpl. Richard De Jong.
Meanwhile, West Vancouver police are investigating two suspicious fires that broke out in Park Royal parking lots after midnight Wednesday.
The first fire was spotted around 12: 30 a.m. on the first floor of the parking garage on Park Royal Road South. West Vancouver firefighters put out a small blaze that had been set to two wooden pallets, possibly from a nearby construction site. One hour later, mall security guards found a garbage can ignited on the third floor of a parking garage on Park Royal Road North.
Police were still canvassing nearby property owners Thursday to see it they had any surveillance footage that could help ID a suspect, said WVPD Const. Lisa Schmidtke.
Stanley Park has been the scene of two more serious deliberately set fires in recent weeks, including one that saw two Vancouver Park Board vehicles torched just two hours before the first Park Royal fire. Schmidtke said there is no evidence linking the events, but that the possibility of a connection is nonetheless part of the investigation.
"We are looking to see if there are any links, and we've advised (the Vancouver Police Department) of our file," she said.
Anyone with information about the fires is asked to call police.
