The New Year's Day fire at Meadowbrook Apartments was the first one to succeed in doing structural damage, but it was not the first suspicious blaze at that address.
Property manager Lyle Adams was the first one to fight Monday's flames, and he has had to fight
others.
"There have been three in the past month," he told The Citizen. "Not in the same exact area, but all in the basement. For one we had to call the fire department, but by the time they got here it was dealt with. All of them are suspicious. One was intentionally set in a garbage can that was set out in the hallway."
The RCMP are not issuing a public alert about the series of incidents but are investigating the latest fire as possibly connected to others.
"Confirmed - three calls to Meadowbrook in a matter of recent weeks," Police spokesman Cpl. Craig Douglass said.
"That's all I can tell you. Those past incidents are certainly aspects of our investigation into the fire this week."
Part of the puzzle, he said, was trying to figure out the motive.
"We don't know what the intent is, here. Any time a fire is deliberately set there is concern, and we have to put a lot of attention on what the motives might be in the mind of the person doing this," he said.
"We also have physical evidence to consider, maybe there are witnesses to things, maybe there are certain similarities, it all depends on the circumstances. We are not jumping to any conclusions, but we are certainly aware of the implications here."
Adams was in the same room the fire broke out in only half an hour before he discovered flames there on Sunday evening at about 8 p.m.
"The flames were just shooting out of there. Scary," he said. "I grabbed the fire extinguisher. I knew I only had one chance to knock it down, it was getting that big.
"I emptied the extinguisher and it knocked it down quite a bit while I was doing that, but as soon as it ran out it flared right back up again. I knew I had to get everyone out."
It might have been that interruption in the flames that spared the building more serious damage. Firefighters were able to contain the blaze and put it out relatively quickly upon their arrival a few moments later.
"It seemed like they were here instantly," Adams said.
The residents were evacuated and are still out of their homes.
Provincial emergency services have been extended to most of the 28 displaced people so they can stay in a hotel with food and clothing benefits now through until Jan. 10 at least.
Meanwhile the building's insurance company has dispatched a special investigator who arrived Wednesday to try finding the cause and assessing the smoke damage to the rooms untouched by fire.
Security guards are now in place to protect the rooms, many of which had the doors kicked in during the evacuation. Residents are welcome to come back to retrieve personal items from their units, but they must be escorted at all times, to preserve the security of all rooms, said Adams. The building is owned by Heng Chao Realty of Richmond, locally managed by property agent Eddie Kam. Adams is the on-site manager.
