RCMP are investigating after someone deliberately set fire to a prominent heritage building in Courtenay, B.C.
Security video captured the culprit as they set the building alight.
Courtenay Fire Department Deputy Chief Jonathan Welsh said firefighters were called to the heritage train station on Cumberland Road around 8:45 p.m. on Thursday.
Crews arrived to find one of the building’s corners on fire with flames extending towards the attic space and spreading rapidly due to wind.
Fortunately, Welsh said, the fire department was nearby and crews were able to put the fire down before it seriously damaged the structure.
A still image from security footage that shows the suspect walking away after setting a fire at the Courtenay heritage train station.
Global News
“It has heritage status, obviously it’s a significant building,” he said.
“Due to the age, it would have been a significant fire should it have spread and possibly damaged the neighbouring properties.”
Security video captured from a neighbouring property shows a person setting fire to something on the station’s platform before casually walking away.
“The evidence is pretty telling, the person came up, lit the fire and immediately left,” Welsh said.
The station suffered damage to the exterior and deck area, but Welsh said the flames did not extend past the area where the fire started.
The station, built in 1914, once formed the northern terminus of a railway line that had been intended to extend all the way to Campbell River.
The city granted it heritage status in 2002.