Five fires, which Sooke fire Chief Steve Sorensen terms “suspicious” have been set in the Sooke area over the past six months.
Sorensen wouldn’t go so far as to say there could be a serial arsonist at work, but he said someone or more than one person is setting fires.
“They have been suspicious in nature,” Sorensen said.
Most recently, a fire consumed a mobile home on Feb. 4, where a father, son and two dogs escaped unharmed. That incident is in the hands of the RCMP.
Sorensen said there was another unoccupied mobile home in the same park that had a fire set around it, but the fire had gone out.
A passerby noticed that a fire was set to the vapor barrier and there was some vandalism inside the new Toronto Dominion Bank on Sooke Road on Jan. 7.
In November 2011 a fifth-wheel on Kaltasin Road was lit on fire and a office chair was set on fire inside the washroom at the skateboard park.
And then there was the fire which destroyed a home on Rhodonite Drive in October, and a tree on the old golf course property which was set on fire four times.
“Whether they’re linked, I don’t know,” the fire chief said.
Sorensen said it was important for residents to ensure that they do not store combustible materials around their homes, as this could be an invitation to a fire bug. He said recyclable materials should be placed out on the morning of a pick up and not left out over night.
“Out of sight, out of mind,” he said.
He asked residents to watch out for suspicious activity and if they had any such unreported incidents to contact the fire department so they can help build a pattern.
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