This suspect allegedly ignited a brush fire outside a Walsh Rd. home in Cedar on Thursday, July 20. (Cedar Tire)

By Ian Holmes

alarming incident

‘Our worst fear is fire:’ police seek suspect after senseless case of mischief in Cedar

Jul 21, 2023 | 4:29 PM

CEDAR — Nanaimo RCMP are trying to locate a suspect following a purposely ignited fire at the entrance of a Cedar property.

A small spot fire was started beside the driveway of Kathy Staton’s Walsh Rd. home on Thursday, July 20 at about 12:35 p.m.

She happened to be doing yard work in her front yard near Cedar Community Secondary School when she heard what sounded like a scooter going by and a few distinct ‘pop, pop zing’ sounds.

Flames then shot up from the grass.

“I yelled ‘No!’, and he took off eastbound on our road and right away I got my husband to come and he extinguished the fire,” Staton told NanaimoNewsNOW at the scene on Friday.

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The suspect displayed disturbing behaviour while leaving, Staton said.

Remnants of a Thursday, July 20 intentionally set fire outside the home of Kathy Staton on Walsh Rd. in Cedar. (Ian Holmes/NanaimoNewsNOW)

“He went ‘oh yeah!’ or ‘hurray!’ or something, he actually vocalized something. He was elated that it had happened and he took off.”

Staton said it was a distressing incident, particularly given how dry it is right now.

“Our worst fear is fire. Our daughter-in-law works from home so she’s in the house on the phone, we just happened to be home. If we weren’t home I can’t even imagine how devastating this would have been. We have a wood shop, a wood house, it would have gone up in flames.”

Nanaimo RCMP Res. Cst. Gary O’Brien said the accelerant, initially reported to be a bow and arrow, turned out to be a firework.

“It was later determined to be a Roman Candle that was fired. It’s extremely dangerous because it’s so dry.”

He said police only have a limited description of the suspect, reported to be a teenager wearing a helmet and riding a red and white scooter.

“We’re hoping the public, based on that information which is unfortunately not much, can help us identify that person,” O’Brien said.

Bill Zoldi works across the street from Staton’s home at Cedar Tire’s warehouse location.

He heard the commotion, then noticed the fire ignite and the suspect casually riding away afterwards.

Zoldi said the incident happened too close to comfort given how flammable tires are.

“Very concerning,” Zoldi said. “I work here in the tire warehouse, I don’t think I’d have enough hoses to put them out. It would be very crazy if something like that happened on this side of the street.”

Zoldi said he didn’t get a good look at the suspect, but said he appeared to have red hair.

Cedar Tire’s surveillance camera captured the suspect riding by its business seconds after the fire was started across the street.

The fire danger rating for virtually all of Vancouver Island is categorized as extreme, according to the BC Wildfire Service.

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ian@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @reporterholmes