Police have yet to decide whether the recent string of suspicious fires around the 2400-block of Government and Douglas streets are connected.
But nearby businesses are concerned that an arsonist is at large and might target them next.
“The thought is always present,” said Theo Nickel, store manager of Rock Bay Cannabis on the 2600 block of Douglas Street.
“As a shop, we’re pretty much doing everything we can do. We already have expensive cameras and an alarm system,” he said. “We are probably more prepared than the average place.”
Nickel checked the store’s security camera footage recently and said that the area at night has constant activity. “It’s interesting to see how much activity is going on around,” he said.
Rob MacMillian, co-owner of Q-Electronics, a boutique home audio and repair store that shares the same building as Rock Bay Cannabis, said that there’s not much more businesses in the area can do.
“I just hope that I don’t get a phone call at three in the morning,” he said. “Obviously, we’re insured. But there’s things you just can’t replace, especially in a niche business like mine — it’s just a lot of unobtainium.”
Victoria police spokesperson Bowen Osoko said police are getting a lot of questions about the string of fires in the northern end of downtown.
Detectives are working on the cases as “one really large investigation” but are still considering them as separate, he said.
“We can’t say that they’re the result of the same person or persons right now,” said Osoko, adding that police are not ruling out the possibility that they are connected.
“There’s some investigative details that we can’t share right now because there’ll be a court process, but we’ll be sharing as much information about this as we can, as often as we can,” he said.
On Friday, police confirmed in a statement that the Tuesday fire at the Three Points Motors dealership — where a new Mercedes convertible was burned during the night — is being treated as suspicious.
It marked a total of four recent late-night fires in the area that have either been deemed as suspicious or as arson.
Osoko said that police have stepped up patrols in the area and are asking people in the neighbourhood to keep an eye on their security videos and to watch for suspicious individuals between 11 p.m. and 4 a.m.
The Victoria Police Department is no stranger to arson investigations, he said. A string of arsons in Quadra Village earlier this year, as well as serial fires in James Bay last year eventually led to arrests for both cases.
But figuring out the cause and culprit of a fire takes time and expertise.
Oftentimes, security camera video can be instrumental in making a breakthrough.
“A lot of folks doing delivery driving often have dash cams and that has been instrumental as evidence,” Osoko said of other investigations.
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