UPDATE: 4:15 p.m. Thursday, June 14
Police have deemed the cause of a house fire suspicious and are investigating.
“We are in the early stages of investigating this human-caused fire,” Cpl. Brian Evans of the Keremeos RCMP detachment said. “If anyone has yet to speak to the police about this and observed an individuals on the property they are urged to contact us right away.”
Evans said the home was vacant. He would not comment on how the fire might have been caused as it’s under investigation, but was clear it was human caused.
The home near the corner of 11th Avenue and 4th Street was knocked down by an excavator under order of the Keremeos Volunteer Fire Department.
“They knocked it down for safety reasons,” Evans said, adding, “It can make it (the investigation) more challenging but we’ve got some pretty good evidence on this one.”
ORIGINAL:
The Keremeos Volunteer Fire Department is working hard to knock down a house fire at the corner of 11th Avenue and 4th Street in Keremeos.
The fire started in the home around 1 p.m. nearby neighbour Jess Cleminson told the Keremeos Review.
Cleminson said she saw thick smoke in the air while visiting her parents. She went out to investigate and saw the house on fire. She thought the house was vacant.
The cause of the fire is unknown at this time, but Cleminson said “police are here talking to witnesses.”
Another neighbour told Keremeos Review that the house was vacant for quite sometime and windows were kicked out of the main floor for at least the last month. She said an orange cat ran out of the home just after the fire started.
The Keremeos Review will update this story when more information becomes available.
