A 58-year-old Roberts Creek man is in police custody facing several charges of arson for his alleged involvement in a pair of fires Thursday afternoon (March 8).
Just after 12:45 p.m. Thursday, Sunshine Coast responded to a report of two separate structure fires after receiving information from the Roberts Creek volunteer fire department that the fires were deliberately set.
"The Roberts Creek fire department was initially dispatched to an active garage fire in the 3300 block of Richards Road when a second garage fire was reported minutes later in the 3300 block of Kraus Road," said RCMP Cpl. Steve Chubey in a news release. "Police were immediately notified as a suspect was identified as having ties with both properties and that both fires were suspected arsons. Witnesses reported that the suspect had recently moved into a renovated garage suite on Kraus Road from the Richards Road residence and had intended on moving to Powell River at the end of the week."
Chubey said the Creek man, was no longer on scene and an uninsured truck was identified as missing from the residence on Richards Road.
"RCMP pinged the suspect's cell phone and received coordinates putting the suspect in the Madeira Park area," added Chubey. "Police patrolled the Madeira Park area and located the missing pickup at the Stone Water Motel. The suspect was located and taken into police custody without incident."
Chubey said the suspect is facing two charges of arson under section 434 of the Criminal Code and has been remanded in custody. RCMP are withholding the suspect's name pending charge approval by Crown counsel.
Creek fire Chief Bruce Searle said the Kraus Road fire was really small and it was taken care of immediately, but the Richards Road fire was more extensive with crews on scene cleaning up until around 5:30 p.m.
Searle said the 14 Creek firefighters who were on scene, received mutual aid from Sechelt to help with the Richards Road fire and Gibsons provided mutual aid for the Kraus Road fire.
"There was a suite above the garage and it's a total loss in the Richards Road fire," said Searle. "There was a fairly large boat out front and it was also consumed. That's what caused the large pall of smoke one of our firefighters could see coming from Nanaimo on the ferry."
Searle said when he arrived on scene he could see a column of smoke and basically the whole front of the building and the boat were on fire at that time.
"My main concern or our concern, were the houses on either side of the burning garage, but neither of them sustained damage, some damaged windows though," he said. "During the middle of the day we have a hard time getting members because they're all working other places. I want Sechelt and Gibsons to know how much we appreciate the good mutual aid agreement we have here on the Sunshine Coast."
- With files from Ben Ingram
