The latest victim of a Kelowna arson says he hopes whoever is responsible does not escalate his or her behavior and end up hurting someone.
Edward McGlame lives in the 100 block of Dougall Road North in Kelowna’s Rutland neighbourhood.
He was sitting in his house watching TV Thursday night when a passerby alerted him that the shed in his backyard was on fire.
“It was quite a terrifying sight,” McGlame tells CHBC News as he watched orange flames consume his backyard shed.
He says the shed contained furniture, books, clothes and other personal belongings. Unfortunately everything was destroyed in the blaze. Damage is estimated at $20,000.
Platoon Captain Henry Roelofs with the Kelowna Fire Department says the fire originated at the front of shed before spreading in a V-pattern along the outside and onto a nearby fence and hedge.Platoon Captain Henry
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“There was nothing that could be done,” he said.
McGlame is just grateful the house, which he rents from the City of Kelowna, was not the target.
“They could have set the house on fire instead of the shed,” he said while noting he is very nervous about the situation.
The shed fire is just the latest in a series of fires that have ravaged Rutland in the past few years.
In October 2010, five deliberately set fires broke out near Rutland’s commercial core. Two boats, a carport, a camper and storage shed were torched in those incidents.
In November 2010, another suspicious fire broke out in the 200 block of Dougall Road, damaging a tractor trailer.
Cst. Kris Clark with the RCMP says those two cases remain unsolved. Clark adds that while the two incidents took place within days of one another there is nothing conclusive to connect them.
McGlame says Thursday’s fire has him on edge.
“I think everybody in the area is scared. They don’t even know whether someone is going to set their house on fire,” he said. “[The person responsible] may up his plot and go to houses and then somebody is going to get hurt.”
Roelofs agrees that whoever is responsible has to think about his or her actions.
“You’re not really accomplishing anything by doing this. Maybe that’s a cheap thrill for them but the reality is if this keeps up, sooner or later, somebody is going to get hurt or killed,” Roelofs said.
As the investigation continues, McGlame says all he can do is wait.
“What else can we do then to sit back and keep our fingers crossed that we are not going to be the next one,” McGlame said.
RCMP say they do not yet have suspects in the shed arson.
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