UPDATE: 6:40 pm
The man, arrested for allegedly starting a fire near dozen of houses in the Glenrosa area on Saturday night, has been released on several conditions pending a possible charge.
Around 8:30 p.m., a local resident near the top of Webber Road began filming a man in the wooded area behind his house. The video shows the man wandering around for some time before setting something on fire, throwing it into the dry bush and running away.
When the neighbors put out the fire themselves, the police were called and the officers were quickly on the spot. After recording a description of the man and his vehicle from local residents, the officers were able to track down and arrest the man within 30 minutes because he was still nearby.
“The West Kelowna RCMP has an investigation underway [but] It is too early at the moment to be clear about what the motive might have been or what charges are being considered, “said Dawn Roberts, spokeswoman for the BC RCMP.
“I understand the person was released today on a number of conditions and charges are pending.”
Roberts said the man has a possible August trial if indicted, but she does not know the details of the conditions the man is now on. She couldn’t tell if the man was a West Kelowna resident, either, but she said she believed he was local.
“The community has been excellent at providing information – their accounts, what they may have seen – as it will play an important role in our investigation,” said Roberts.
Thanks to the rapid intervention of the local residents, the fire was quickly extinguished. One of the neighbors who helped put out the fire told Castanet that the arsonist appeared to have used some sort of Molotov cocktail-like device with rags and a bottle of flammable liquid.
“Many human lives would have been in danger,” said a neighbor.
ORIGINAL: 1:05 pm
A man was arrested in the Glenrosa area of West Kelowna Saturday night after allegedly attempting to set fire to a wooded area near dozens of homes. And a resident of the area captured the disturbing incident on camera.
Around 8:30 p.m., a local resident near the top of Webber Road noticed someone was sneaking around in the woods behind his house and he decided to start filming.
“He looked kind of sketchy … he went up the hill, down the hill, lit something and then threw it,” said B, who wanted to remain anonymous.
The arsonist then ran into the woods while B and his neighbors took action to put out the fire.
“The neighbors had a 200-foot hose, so they ran up there right away … we let another neighbor out with a fire extinguisher and he got it right away, so we were lucky that all of the neighbors were very quick to respond. “Said B.
“This area … is between two rows of streets so if it caught it would have been insane.”
B’s neighbor said they managed to put out the fire completely before the fire department arrived.
“The fire department even said, ‘Fortunately you found out because the logistics … that would have been a nightmare,'” she said.
“That is too dangerous, many human lives would have been in danger.”
Her husband, who helped put out the fire, said it was apparently triggered by some sort of Molotov cocktail machine that stuffed rags into a bottle of flammable liquid.
“It was an incendiary bomb,” he said.
At one point, a neighbor called 911 and the alleged arsonist was reportedly caught by police before leaving the area.
“He went around and got his car from the end of the cul-de-sac and tried to leave,” said B. “And in the end he stopped and was caught by the police right in front of the house.”
Castanet has reached out to the RCMP to see if charges have been brought against the alleged arsonist.
The interior of BC is exceptionally dry this summer, following a spring drought and record-breaking high temperatures in recent weeks. There are currently 301 active fires in the province.
