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Suspect arrested in Victoria after morning arson burns Bay Centre doors

Police, firefighters responded to string of fires between 2 and 4 a.m.
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Victoria police officers and firefighters responded to a series of fires early Friday morning. One person was arrested in relation to one fire set against the Bay Centre’s exterior doors. (Black Press Media file photo)

One person was arrested amid a series of fires over a two-hour span early in the morning on Friday.

The Victoria Fire Department extinguished a small fire in a hedge near the intersection of Cook Street and Balmoral Road just after 2 a.m. It resulted in no significant damage and the cause of this fire is under investigation.

About an hour and a half later, Victoria police officers responded to the intersection of Broad and View streets, where they found two separate fires – with one against the exterior door of the Bay Centre. Officers used fire extinguishers from their vehicles to douse the flames. The fire department also attended and took over firefighting efforts.

Damage to the exterior doors is being assessed and that fire was determined to be an arson, VicPD said. Officers arrested a suspect a short time later and they have been held for court.

After a report of a garbage can fire in an alleyway in the 500-block of Yates Street, responding officers found a resident of the area working to put out the blaze with an extinguisher. Firefighters arrived and extinguished the fire.

VicPD said two of the Friday morning fires were confirmed to be arsons. Nobody was injured in the fires.

Police are investigating whether the incidents are related to each other, as well as other arsons in James Bay last week. One of those James Bay fires damaged several vehicles parked in a carport.

Anyone with information or video footage from the area of these fires can contact VicPD at 250-995-7654, ext. 1, or report anonymously to Greater Victoria Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.

READ: Vehicles damaged in James Bay arson


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