Three suspicious fires in James Bay within a 10-minute span

Victoria police are investigating three suspicious fires that happened in a matter of about 10 minutes early Thursday in James Bay.

They were first called about 3 a.m. to a fire in a construction bin near the intersection of Michigan and Powell streets. The Victoria Fire Department was already at the scene and had extinguished the blaze.

About 3:05 a.m., police were alerted to a second fire on the staircase of a heritage structure in the 500-block of Government Street. Officers contained the blaze with a fire extinguisher before firefighters arrived.

The third fire was reported about 3:10 a.m. in a dumpster in the 200-block of Menzies Street. It spread to a wooden fence, with police again using a fire extinguisher until firefighters arrived to take over.

The dumpster was engulfed in flames before firefighters put the fire out.

The fires have not been officially connected, “but it’s certainly concerning and we’re taking all the necessary steps in the investigation,” said Victoria police Const. Cam MacIntyre.

Police issued a public appeal for security-camera footage from the area. “We’re thinking someone might have something that captured an individual,” MacIntyre said.

The fires come after police alerted the public to a string of suspicious blazes that began in early March in Victoria and Esquimalt. No connection has been found between them and the Thursday fires, MacIntyre said.

The first advisory came April 8 after nine suspicious fires, starting March 5. While garbage cans and cardboard boxes were targeted, one blaze in Beacon Hill Park badly damaged the cab of a pickup truck.

The heat from an April 13 fire in a backyard shed on Parry Street in James Bay ignited a studio suite in a neighbouring yard, but no one was hurt. Damage was estimated at $50,000.

That evening, police were called to a large area of burned grass on Toronto Street.

Call Victoria police at 250-9957654 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800222-TIPS (8477) with any information.