Victoria police investigating three suspicious fires

Victoria police are investigating three fires that appear to have been deliberately set on Thursday night.

Police officers and firefighters responded to fires in garbage or garbage bins at three locations between 6 and 8:30 p.m.: Johnson Street at Douglas Street, the 1000 block of Hillside Avenue, between Quadra and Graham streets, and the 700 block of Government Street, near the Inner Harbour.

Firefighters extinguished the flames, which did not spread to adjacent structures.

No one was injured and each fire was determined to be suspicious, said Victoria police spokesman Bowen Osoko. No arrests have been made.

There have been a series of suspicious fires in Victoria and Esquimalt in the past several months. Police are investigating nine suspicious fires lit in March and April, and another three that were set within 10 minutes in James Bay on May 14. The fires have not been linked.

Anyone with information about these or other suspicious fires is asked to call Victoria police’s non-emergency line at 250-995-7654. To report what you know anonymously, call Greater Victoria Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (8477). — Times Colonist