MISSION (NEWS 1130) – Part of the Khalsa Centre summer camp, northeast of downtown Mission, has been destroyed by a fire early Thursday morning.
Police say the fire may have been deliberately set.
Crews were called to the building on 14100 Stave Lake Road, in the Miracle Valley area, just before 2:00 a.m.
“We learned that nobody was in the building that was fully engulfed in flames. There were no injuries as a result of the fire,” Corporal Nathan Berze tells NEWS 1130. “The fire was set to what was described as the gymnasium area of the building.”
No suspects or a motive have been identified at this time. Berze could not say why investigators believe the fire may have been intentionally set.
“Speaking in generalities, when an investigator shows up on a scene, they’re looking for things that are out of place. Maybe things that catch their attention. From there we try to, kind of, look into those things and maybe why they’re there or why certain things are not there, and try to provide answers to those questions that we initially have on scene,” he explains. “At this point, it would be fair to say that we have questions about this fire and we’re currently investigating.”
RCMP investigators will work closely with fire investigators to determine what happened, Berze adds.
“An investigation like this, you kind of have to look at it from 10,000 feet and also within a millimetre. So, from 10,000 feet, we’re looking at the history of the Khalsa Centre, we’re looking at anyone that was on scene who was involved, any previous conflicts — if any exist, those type of things just to try to maybe determine who could be involved.”
Police could not confirm if anyone was staying on the grounds of the Khalsa Centre at the time of the fire.
The Khalsa Centre normally hosts summer camps for children and families.
“Thank you for all the calls and messages. We are all safe and grateful to Waheguru ji that we are ok,” the Khalsa Centre at Miracle Valley wrote on Facebook Thursday.
Anyone with information about what happened is asked to contact the Mission RCMP at 604.826.7161 or Crimestoppers at 1.800.222.8477.