Two vehicles were destroyed after a fire was deliberately set at Penticton Kia on Saturday.
Around 2:00 a.m., video surveillance shows a man walking through the back lot and looking around the vehicles. Moments later, a truck is fully engulfed and a man pedals away on a bike.
“We were actually alerted by the Penticton Fire Department who came into the dealership Saturday morning to let us know that they had come out to tackle a fire,” said Penticton Kia marketing director Dale Cory.
“It’s pretty clear. You can see a couple of people come into view in the camera, light the fire in behind the vehicles. They also lit a fire in the grass and behind as well.”
Fire crews were alerted by the security company and were able to put out the fire before it spread any further.
“It’s quite dramatic and the possibilities of what could have happened are very real. The fire back here was contained to a couple of older vehicles and a tree and behind,” said Cory.
“Summertime, this gets much more serious and who knows how many more buildings maybe go up or vehicles because of it. But to see how high the flames were and you can see in the tree behind how far up the tree went, it’s scary in many ways.”
The two involved vehicles were a truck belonging to an employee and a Ford Escape that was used in the Penticton Speedway’s King of the Hill last year.
Penticton Kia says the cost of the damage will not be recovered as the cost is greater than the cars are worth.
“Because they are a couple of older vehicles and are really not worth too much, we wouldn’t put in a claim for anything that way,” added Cory.
He went on to say that this isn’t the first time that the dealership has had to deal with property damage.
“We’ve caught people in the back before which was the reason we’ve installed cameras and been able to catch something like this on camera and help the fire department and the police department try to pick up those people responsible,” said Cory.
The incident has prompted Penticton Kia to share a warning for other businesses owners to stay vigilant.
“It’s just important for all people, all businesses to watch the property and do the right things,” said Cory.
“Make sure things are locked up if they can put cameras in there to so that it helps authorities catch the people responsible when something does happen.”