Update: 3 persons of interest in cabin arson turned themselves into police Mon. night. More to come...
The Coquitlam RCMP is asking the public for help in identifying the three young men believed to be responsible for burning down a cabin on Widgeon Creek near Pitt Lake.
The fire occurred in the evening on July 7, but the RCMP has so far been unable to identify three suspected arsonists caught by wildlife cameras installed in trees on the property, so they’ve released the photos to the public.
“Our investigation at this point has come to a standstill in terms of identifying the individuals,” said Const. Chris Nordlund. “We’re hoping that the members of the public will further our investigation.”
Police believe the three suspects arrived by boat and attempted to break into the cabin. When they were unable to do so, the set it on fire.
Co-owner Dave Clarke told CTV News the cameras were installed to keep an eye on the vacation property when its owners were away. He said he hoped the images they captured would lead to the arrest of the people who burned down the cabin.
“I don’t understand why somebody would do this,” Clarke said.
The cabin was built in 1955 as a base for duck hunting, but over time it grew into an all-seasons family getaway. Clarke said he had a lot of fond memories of the place.
“It’s hard to hold back the tears,” he said. “It’s a big loss to our family. A huge loss.”
The blaze burned itself out under the watchful eye of local fire officials, but that might not have been an option if not for rain earlier in the week. Under different conditions, the fire could have turned out much worse, Nordlund said.
“We were pretty lucky in the sense that we had a couple of days of rain previous to the event,” he said. “If this happened on this date, the risk to the public would have been pretty extreme.”
Anyone who can identify the three young men shown in the photos, or who saw them in the area around the date of the fire, is asked to call Coquitlam RCMP at 604-945-1550 or report the information to Crime Stoppers at www.solvecrime.ca.