Charges laid in White Rock's 2016 'Five Corners Fire'

The inferno broke out in a condo complex under development, and quickly spread to a nearby 60-unit apartment building in White Rock. (CTV)

More than six years after flames tore through an apartment building in White Rock, and more than 18 months after police announced they had made arrests in the case, charges have now been laid against a Surrey man, Mounties announced Thursday.

James Adrian Dyer was 18 years old at the time the fire broke out in an under-construction condo building and quickly spread to a nearby apartment complex, displacing around 100 residents, according to White Rock RCMP.

The now-24-year-old is facing seven charges, including arson, police said in a news release.

The blaze occurred on May 15, 2016 in the 15200 block of Pacific Avenue and has become known as the "Five Corners Fire." It caused millions of dollars in damage, and the efforts to fight it affected the city's water supply and quality, according to police.

In July 2021, Mounties announced that they had arrested two men who they suspected of several arsons that occurred in White Rock on the date of the fire. 

At the time, police said one of the men was from "the local area" and the other was from outside the Lower Mainland. They did not name either suspect, as charges had not yet been laid. Police did not say Thursday whether Dyer was one of the two suspects arrested in July 2021.

Mounties did not list the other six charges against Dyer in their most recent statement, but online court records indicate that he has been charged with the following:

• Two counts of arson damaging property
• One count of arson in relation to inhabited property
• Two counts of theft
• One count of breaking and entering and committing an indictable offence
• One count of breaking and entering with intent to commit an offence

All of the alleged offences occurred in White Rock.

Dyer is scheduled to make his first court appearance in Surrey on Feb. 23, police said.