3 fires at Masonic lodges in Metro Vancouver area

Vancouver police arrested a 42-year-old man suspected of arson in three fires at Masonic lodges in Metro Vancouver on Tuesday morning.

The arrest came after an off-duty police officer driving past the Masonic temple near Rupert Street and East 29th Avenue in Vancouver noticed a man walking away from the building as it burned, according to Vancouver Police Department (VPD) Const. Tania Visintin.

Video taken by a bystander shows flames licking at an entrance to the temple as a man carries a red jerrycan to the trunk of a black van. He is then confronted by the off-duty officer.

The man managed to get away but was then arrested just before 10 a.m. in Burnaby near North Fraser Way and Marine Way, about a 20-minute drive from the location of the last of the fires, according to police.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/north-vancouver-fires-1.5969506

https://www.thestar.com/news/canada/2021/03/31/man-charged-after-vancouver-masonic-hall-fire-two-fires-remain-under-investigation.html