NorKam arson tips pouring in
It’s been more than a week since an intentionally set blaze at NorKam secondary caused extensive damage to a shipping container filled with wrestling mats — and the school’s principal says the tips are pouring in.
“We’ve had nine or 10 tips,” Sheryl Lindquist told KTW.
“We’ve turned all that information over to the RCMP.”
Just before 2 a.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 4, emergency crews were called to the high school at 12th Street and Tranquille Road after a passerby noticed smoke.
Firefighters quickly located and snuffed out the blaze in a secure courtyard and police immediately began their investigation.
Lindquist said a $1,000 reward is being offered for information leading to a conviction — $500 coming from NorKam and $500 from School District 73’s facilities department.
That reward, she said, is prompting people to offer information.
“There has been some from students, but we’ve had people come in off the street with information,” Lindquist said.
“We’re very happy to take any information on behalf of the police.”
Last week’s fire destroyed three Olympic-size wrestling mats.
Lindquist said she has been informed it will cost $40,000 to have them replaced.
“The school district has insurance, but I think it’s a substantial deductible,” she said.
“Somewhere around $10,000 is what I think.”
The fire at NorKam is the latest in a string of more than a dozen suspicious fires in North Kamloops dating back to the spring of 2011.
Most recently, on New Year’s Day, Kamloops Fire Rescue responded to a report of a fire in an alley off Sudbury Avenue.
A garbage can had been set ablaze, with flames spreading to a nearby fence.
The fire was doused before any structures were endangered.
Residents of a house on Chestnut Avenue weren’t so lucky in October, when a similar alley fire spread first to a shed and then to their home, eventually gutting the home.
Most of the other suspicious fires have been limited mainly to sheds and garages.
Police continue to investigate the NorKam arson.
Anyone with information can call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477.
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