Close X
Monday, November 25, 2024
ADVT 
National

Vancouver fire service cites butane torch lighters as fire incidents hit record high

Darpan News Desk The Canadian Press, 09 Aug, 2023 03:06 PM
  • Vancouver fire service cites butane torch lighters as fire incidents hit record high

The Vancouver Fire Rescue Service says the first half of 2023 has been a record-breaking period for fire-related incidents in the city, with alarming numbers of calls involving drug users and butane torches with flame-locking mechanisms. 

Fire information officer Matthew Trudeau says the service responded to 2,113 calls in the first half of the year, the most in the service's history for the same period and a 31 per cent increase compared to the first half of 2022.

The fire service says in a statement that the leading cause of fires remains discarded smoking materials including matches, lighters, candles, cigarettes, and drug paraphernalia, causing nearly 60 per cent of all incidents. 

The fire service says it's also worried about more fires occurring in single-room occupancy buildings, as well as a notable spike in outdoor fires. 

Trudeau says there have been numerous single-room occupancy fires caused by drug users dropping locked butane lighters and setting fire to themselves or their surroundings.

The service says four people have died in fires so far in 2023, three of them involving blazes caused by smokers' materials. 

The fire service also says more than a quarter of all fires have been the result of arson, which it says is part of an upward trend in suspicious fire incidents. 

MORE National ARTICLES

Daly bridge being replaced

Daly bridge being replaced
The Daly Bridge is being replaced southeast of Lumby in B-C's southern Interior. Vernon-Monashee M-L-A Harwinder Sandhu says replacing the 50-year-old bridge will help to safeguard access to homes and businesses in the Creighton Valley area by reducing the chance of flooding or washouts.

Daly bridge being replaced

Drug alert in Chilliwack

Drug alert in Chilliwack
A drug alert has been issued by Fraser Health after benzodiazepines were detected in vape juice containing cannabis and synthetic cannabinoids. The Mounties say the tainted products are being sold in clubs and bars, but may also be sold elsewhere.  

Drug alert in Chilliwack

Suspect wanted in fraud

Suspect wanted in fraud
R-C-M-P are looking for a suspect wanted in a fraud and identity theft case that has resulted in more than 200 charges being laid. The Mounties say two others have been taken into custody after a vehicle stop in March led to the seizure of multiple forged documents.  

Suspect wanted in fraud

B.C. Mountie charged with dangerous driving causing bodily harm

B.C. Mountie charged with dangerous driving causing bodily harm
The BC Prosecution Service says the charge for Cst. Robby Pawar stems from an incident that is alleged to have happened on Dec. 3, 2021, in Delta, B.C. The Mountie's first appearance is scheduled to take place on August 2, 2023 in Surrey Provincial Court.

B.C. Mountie charged with dangerous driving causing bodily harm

Union and employers receive mediator's terms to end B.C. port strike, source says

Union and employers receive mediator's terms to end B.C. port strike, source says
The delivery of the terms comes after federal Labour Minister Seamus O'Regan late Tuesday instructed the mediator to send him the terms within 24 hours so he could forward them to the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Canada and the B.C. Maritime Employers Association.

Union and employers receive mediator's terms to end B.C. port strike, source says

Four years after passage of law on abandoned boats, only two fines have been levied

Four years after passage of law on abandoned boats, only two fines have been levied
The government introduced the Wrecked, Abandoned or Hazardous Vessels Act in 2017. It passed in February 2019 and took effect that July. It made it illegal to abandon a boat in Canada and gives the government the power to go after boat owners when their vessels are wrecked or left behind, including fines up to $1 million.

Four years after passage of law on abandoned boats, only two fines have been levied