RICHMOND RCMP are making an appeal for anyone to come forward who may have knowledge of any suspects involved in any of the suspicious fires that have occurred at the same residential building on Arcadia Road in central Richmond since November.

The residential building has been the site of three suspicious small fires over the last month and a half, including two of them that occurred within a period of 10 days in mid-November.

The first incident occurred close to midnight on November 18 as a small appliance fan being used to air out the building was set on fire. This fire did not appear to be accidental or electrical. Richmond Fire-Rescue attended the scene and quickly extinguished the blaze.

The second incident occurred in the early morning hours of November 19 in the open underground parkade, when someone set a 20-foot boat ablaze. The fire also caused damage to the two adjacent vehicles parked on either side of the vessel. Richmond Fire-Rescue attended the scene and quickly extinguished this blaze as well. Through the course of the investigation, the cause of this fire was deemed to be suspicious.

The third incident occurred in a stairwell last night, which was extinguished by an alert resident prior to the arrival of Richmond Fire-Rescue. Through the course of the investigation, the cause of this fire was also deemed to be suspicious.

The motive of the crimes remains unclear. It is also unclear if these fires are all related.

“The multiple fires have been unsettling for residents of the building, as you can imagine,” said Constable Kenneth Lau. “But we know that someone out there has information that can assist us and rapidly advance these investigations so we can identify the persons involved and hold them accountable for their actions.”

Richmond RCMP Watch General Investigative Services have been working tirelessly to investigate these incidents. If you have any information about these fires, contact the Richmond RCMP at 604-278-1212 quoting the file numbers 20-31465 (for the fan fire), 20-31644 (for the boat fire) or 20-35581 (for the stairwell fire), and if you wish to remain anonymous, you can contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 or www.solvecrime.ca.