A spokesperson for Mid Island Bus says the fire that torched five of the company’s buses last month was intentionally set.
“Nobody’s said anything other than there’s a good suspicion that it was arson,” the spokesperson from the company’s operations department said on Tuesday. “All we know is that the police said it was arson.”
Firefighters from North Cowichan’s South End Hall were called to the company’s Tzouhalem Road compound just after 4 a.m. on Jan. 11. They extinguished the blaze, which had fully engulfed three buses and damaged two others beyond repair.
Mounties requested a crew again for a flare-up around 7 a.m. that day as the fire began to smoulder.
SEE RELATED: Five school buses destroyed in suspicious early morning fire
Inspector Chris Bear, officer in charge of the North Cowichan/Duncan detachment, confirmed what Mid Island Bus and the public have thought all along — the fire has been deemed to be suspicious.
“Arson can’t be ruled out,” Bear said.
The officer did note that police have yet to find a suspect.
Mid Island Bus is contracted to provide pick-up and drop-off school bus services for Queen of Angels School and Duncan Christian School. Shortly after the fire the company received offers of temporary replacement buses from other local schools in order to ensure students got to school and back home safely despite Mid Island’s reduced fleet.
Those with information can call the detachment at 250-748-5522 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (6477) and quote file 2019-566.
sarah.simpson@cowichanvalleycitizen.com
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