Kelowna house fire investigated as arson

KELOWNA – A house fire early Monday morning in Kelowna was likely deliberately set.

“We’ll categorize it as being suspicious,” says RCMP arson investigator Cst. Greg Willcocks.

The older home at 745 Harvey Avenue that has been converted into a duplex was badly damaged in the blaze that was reported at 2:10 a.m.

“At this point it’s pretty tore up so I don’t know if we’re going to find much. We’ll look for evidence of accelerants,” says fire department investigator Russ Van de Sype.

The only occupant of the building escaped safely.

“The guy that lives upstairs came down and was banging on our door and we phoned 911,” says next-door-neighbour Theresa Ziemann. “The whole side of the building was on fire.”

The blaze started on an outside wall. Sawdust insulation helped fuel the flames.

“Yeah it’s an old building. It went up the side pretty fast. It was fully involved even when they were calling 911,” says Van de Sype.

The duplex is for sale. It was likely destined to be torn down for new development.