Vancouver police are investigating a series of suspicious fires that happened late last night in downtown Vancouver.
Around midnight, Vancouver Fire and Rescue Services and police responded to a suspicious fire, believed to have been deliberately set in a garbage bin, in the 400 block of Granville Street.
This was the first of several fires set in the area, including the following:
- a bench in the 500 Granville Street, as well as a garbage bin
- a garbage bin at the corner of Granville and Georgia Street
- outside the Hudson’s Bay in an alcove (extinguished by Transit Police)
- two more garbage bins in the mid-block 700 Granville Street
- at 12:30 a.m., Vancouver Police were called by security at the BC Hydro Building in the 300 block of Dunsmuir Street after they found three fires in garbage bins outside their building
- at 1:30 a.m., police responded to Smithe and Granville Street for a fire in parking stall behind Ceili’s Irish Pub
- a waste paper basket in a men’s washroom at the Holiday Inn at 1110 Howe Street morning.
Police began collecting and reviewing video from nearby businesses. The image of a person of interest was found on surveillance video and was shared with other officers.
Shortly after 1:30 this morning, a male person-of-intest in the Hudson’s Bay fire was arrested at Robson and Seymour Street.
Arson investigators are now conducting investigations into the remaining fires to see if they are linked to the fire at Hudson’s Bay.
Anyone with information about these incidents is asked to call Vancouver Police Major Crime Section, Arson Unit at (604) 717-2541 or Crime Stoppers at 1 (800) 222-8477.
