Half-naked man in hardhat latest suspect in string of BC arson attempts

PENTICTON — A half-naked dancing man wearing little else but a hardhat is the latest unnamed suspect in a recent string of arson attempts in the Interior region of British Columbia..The incident was captured on camera Thursday, and later confirmed by both RCMP and local media. .Witnesses hiking Knox Mountain said they saw smoke, and then found a shirtless man standing in the flames. Tessa Voigt told Castanet the man wore a hard hat, held a bottle, and was “kind of stumbling around." Others said his shorts were falling down.Kelowna firefighters reported contending with a 200-by-200-foot grass fire of low intensity near the first lookout on the west side of the mountain. Officers were called about 1:35 p.m. Witnesses identified a male suspect seen in the area where the fire is believed to have started. After a brief foot chase, RCMP arrested him. He remains in custody.“We would like to thank members of the public who promptly provided information to responding officers,” Cpl. Steven Lang said. “The investigation is in its infancy.”.It is the second time in less than a year the same popular hillside has been the scene of a suspected arson.Last October, Robert Austin Teal dressed in full camouflage, carried a slingshot and lit multiple fires on Knox Mountain. He later pleaded guilty. A provincial court judge who described Teal as having “little grasp on reality” sentenced him this month to jail time and three years of probation, citing mental-health and substance-use issues.Bruce McGonigal, who has documented Interior arsons for months, posted the new Knox Mountain photograph Thursday evening. He also recirculated video of last year’s chase on the same mountain. In it, Robert Austin Teal continues lighting fires while people pursue him across the hillside..This latest incident comes only days after a 33-year-old West Kelowna woman already on probation was charged with six counts, including arson in relation to inhabited property and possession of incendiary material. Mariah Banning Baer is accused of starting two grass fires in Vernon’s Commonage neighbourhood on August 4. She remains in custody..Two other women were arrested on similar charges in the days before that.A 33-year-old was taken into custody after a bush fire in Salmon Arm on August 8 and later released with conditions..Another 35-year-old woman in Vernon was arrested by a police dog team on August 10 after witnesses said she set a newspaper box alight at Kin Beach and walked away.Officials maintain that arson is rare. Over the past 10 years they have classified about 4% of all recorded wildfires as “incendiary” — meaning a person or group of persons started the fire by lighting it on purpose.As many online have noted, however, that 4% number is only the fires that make it onto the provincial wildfire books as arson or suspicious as a result of an individual being sighted or caught in the act. It does not include every small grass fire beside a road, every newspaper box, or every other half-naked man in a hardhat dancing on a burning hillside who goes unseen.Police have not named the man in the hardhat.

Half-naked man in hardhat latest suspect in string of BC arson attempts

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