(Salmo) The Royal Canadian Mounted Police in British Columbia have said they are investigating the circumstances of a handful of “suspicious” wildfires in an area of the southern Interior.
RCMP say officers in Salmo responded with the local fire department to no less than four brush fires northwest of the intersection of Highways 6 and 3 on Saturday.
Mounted police said in a statement they had reason to believe the fires may have been deliberately started before being extinguished by fire crews.
RCMP say crews reported spotting an unknown man fleeing the area on foot.
Police said teams responded to three more fires in the Salmo area on Monday and investigators are working to determine possible links between the fires.
Among the latest fires, investigators specify that the first was discovered around 5 am at the end of Lagoon Road; the second at 4.30 p.m. in the Bombi area; and the third at 5 p.m., near the same highway intersection where the fires started on Saturday.
Staff Sergeant Janelle Shoihet told a press conference on Tuesday that anyone with information about the fires is urged to call Salmo RCMP or Crime Stoppers.