A fire sparked at a vape shop on Commercial Drive was intentionally set, according to Vancouver Police.
The Vapester Smoke Shop on Commercial Drive and East 4th Avenue was attacked Monday night.
Video shows a masked person with gloves and a hoodie walk up to the store with a jug of gasoline, pour it on the entrance, light it on fire and walk away.
“It happened within 10 seconds,” according to shopkeeper Mohiuddin Azam.
“If the lady customer left the store 10 seconds earlier, she would have been burned, literally. She was so close to the door and then the doors started burning.”
According to police, Vancouver Fire responded to the fire April 3 around 8:30 p.m. and an investigation is now underway.
“An initial investigation revealed the fire was intentionally set,” according to Cst. Tania Visintin with Vancouver Police.
The terrifying incident rattled customers and staff who were inside during the fire.
“It was so scary. The customer, she was literally crying. Our employee made sure the fire settled down by using the extinguisher and doing everything to put it out,” Azam explained.
Security cameras inside caught the employee jumping into action with the fire extinguisher and releasing it at the sudden fire almost as quickly as it started.
Azam says luckily no one was hurt and he credits his co-worker for his quick reaction.
“He knows how to use a fire extinguisher. We provide training for emergency situations and how to deal with customers.”
Azam says he has no idea why someone would target the business and nothing like this happened since opening in 2017.
“I really don’t know. It was a random guy. The police officer said that it was a competitor, and my competition may have sent him because he was fully professional. He was wearing safety gloves; anti-flammable clothes and he was fully covered with a mask and hoodie.”
The fire left cracks in the front door windows and some burns were left on the walls by the entrance.
No arrests have been made so far.
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