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Police investigating 13 wildfire arsons in North Vancouver

North Vancouver RCMP’s arson unit is investigating more than a dozen deliberately set fires on the Hastings Creek trail in Lynn Valley that threatened to claim nearby homes.

North Vancouver RCMP’s arson unit is investigating more than a dozen deliberately set fires on the Hastings Creek trail in Lynn Valley that threatened to claim nearby homes.

“Without the timely reporting and extinguishing of the fires yesterday, the outcome might have been disastrous,” said Cpl. Richard De Jong, North Vancouver RCMP spokesman. “We are as concerned as the public in finding this person and also preventing any further acts of arson in our tinder dry forests.”

The first 9-1-1 call came in around 6:30 a.m. Wednesday when trail walkers noticed flames burning just south of the gravel sports field at Ross Road elementary. District of North Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services members called more crews as they learned of other brush fires burning farther down the trail. In the late afternoon, three more fires were reported along the creek south of Hoskins Road, bringing the total to 13. Police say it is possible those ones had been smouldering and gone unnoticed since the morning.

While some of the fires were close enough to the trailhead that crews could hit them with their hoses, the rest required portable pumps using creek water and authorities are crediting nearby residents who formed bucket brigades to prevent the small blazes from spreading. Greenock Place resident Darren Card came home from work and smelled the smoke Wednesday afternoon, causing the neghbourhood to jump into action.

“I immediately called 9-1-1. I called a bunch of my neighbours. Everybody kind of descended,” he said. “We all pitched in and water bucketed and helped to get the fires under control.”

Police, firefighters and parks staff are stepping up patrols in wooded areas but De Jong said, the RCMP are still counting on the public to be their “eyes, ears and nose” when it comes to detecting fires or suspicious activity.

So far, no arrests have been made though police have collected evidence from the various crime scenes and are working to figure out what would motivate someone to put local forests and homes at risk.

“Our crime analysts have been actively following this investigation, helping us identify potential persons of interest who may be living in the area or even within the Lower Mainland,” De Jong said. “Is this a person who has a vendetta to the area? Or just has an interest in seeing emergency services respond? These are all things that we’re looking at. We’re trying to profile someone who may have a criminal intent in starting these fires.”

There’s still tense feeling among the neighbours along the creek, Card said.

“Everybody’s a little bit on edge due to the fact, when you consider arson, it’s like, ‘Are they going to come back?’” he said. “At the same time, we have a really tight neighbourhood and I think everybody is just really proud of one another for the way that everyone came together and descended and helped out with everything.”

So far, there are no plans to cut off access to the North Shore’s parks and trails, according to district fire chief Victor Penman. Instead, the three North Shore fire departments, along with Metro Vancouver and provincial parks staff, are going on an information blitz, warning residents and visitors about the extreme forest fire risk. Smoking, campfires and barbecues have been banned from pretty much every local park, trail and beach. Despite this being the summer of smoke and flames, some people just aren’t getting the message, said assistant fire chief Mike Cairns.

“For the most part, the residents across the North Shore are totally, totally co-operating and behind our efforts to mitigate all the risks,” Cairns said. “But, unfortunately, we need 100 per cent compliance.

On Sunday, some North Vancouver residents out boating on Indian Arm found themselves moonlighting as firefighters when they spotted smoke rising from an abandoned camp site just east of Quarry Rock, about 100 metres up from the water’s edge. Terry Dickson called 9-1-1 but was told it would be some time before firefighters could reach the remote site. Dickson, his wife Julie and friend James Tjorhom spent the next 20 minutes filling their coolers and buckets with seawater and dumping it on the fire until it was out.

Dickson said it was likely teens looking to have a party in a secluded area, given the 100 empty beer bottles and cans, camping gear and garbage abandoned at the site.

“If they know what risk they put the residents at on Panorama Drive or all of the Quarry Rock trail area, there’s no way anyone would have done that intentionally,” he said.

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This story was first reported by the North Shore News.