A vehicle was torched and left to burn on a dead end street off Carmi Road Wednesday night.
Abby Ploner happened on the fire that started around 7:15 p.m last night (Dec. 2). She captured the blaze on video.
She had to call the forest fire department because the fire is out of city limits and not covered by Penticton Fire Department.
“Then the brush started catching fire. That made me panic a bit,” she said.
Police said the vehicle was likely stolen and then torched.
“We believe it was stolen. No one was found around it. We’ve had it towed out this morning (Thursday), and will try and identify the owner,” said Penticton RCMP Const. James Grandy.
The is third fire in a month’s time that has been out of the Penticton fire’s jurisdiction.
| This is the aftermath of the vehicle that was left to burn off Carmi Road Wednesday night. The area is out of Penticton Fire's jurisdiction. (Ashley Ploner photo) |
READ MORE: Structure fire could be seen from downtown Penticton
“We had two recent structure fires that just burned down,” said Penticton fire chief Larry Watkinson. There is no fire protection up Carmi. There are around 100 houses up there that have no fire protection.”
Several years ago, fire protection was voted down by Carmi residents through the RDOS.
Penticton Fire did make a proposal to the community for fire protection in the area, but through the alternative voting process, the proposal was voted down, said Watkinson.
Like Twin Lakes and other rural areas in the region that don’t have fire protection, home insurance more than doubles.