Police investigate three suspicious fires in East Vancouver this morning

Police and fire investigators in Vancouver are investigating three possible arson incidents in East Vancouver Monday morning.

According to a release, the first incident occurred just after 1 am when occupants of a home in the area of Inverness Street and East 29th Avenue saw that the back of their home was on fire.

The residents alerted each other and escaped. While firefighters were able to put out the fire, the home sustained extensive damage.

And while responding to the house fire, firefighters were also called to McBride Elementary School located several blocks away. Upon arriving at the school, they found that someone had piled items against the back wall of the school and set them on fire.

Alarms and sprinklers inside the school were set off by smoke, causing minor damage.

A third fire was later discovered near the house and school fire. Fortunately, nobody was injured by any of the fires.

“Detectives from the VPD’s Arson Team and the VFD’s Fire Investigation Division will work together to determine the cause of the fires, if they are linked, and who is responsible,” reads the release.

Anyone who may have information that could assist investigators, or was near Inverness Street and McBride Elementary School at approximately 1 am Monday and saw people or vehicles in the area that could now be considered suspicious, is asked to contact the Vancouver Police Department’s arson line at 604-717-2962 or Crime Stoppers’ anonymous hotline at 1-800-222-8477.