Emotions still ran high for Gwen Balmer early Monday morning, June 15.
“I can’t that fix that,” she exclaimed to Black Press Media, before weeping after a suspect threw an object breaking the window of one her vans used to deliver water in Williams Lake setting it on fire a few days earlier.
The owner of the Williams Lake Water Factory was doing a delivery to West Fraser in her other van early Saturday evening, June 13, before returning to a scene of fire trucks and firefighters.
“I cried like a banshee, like really what did we do wrong to have this happen to us? How do I do my deliveries without a extra van? That’s half my deliveries. I need two vans. Oh my god,” she wept.
B.C. RCMP senior media relations officer S/Sgt. Kris Clark confirmed Williams Lake RCMP responded to the vehicle fire in the 900-block of MacKenzie Avenue South.
“Police arrived to discover a Ford E350 van with significant fire damage,” Clark stated in an email. “The Williams Lake Fire Department had already extinguished the flames, and it was believed that the fire was suspicious in nature.”
While Balmer was waiting on Monday for an ICBC official to arrive to assess the vehicle with a blackened inside that was used for half of her deliveries, she noted there is no doubt she will be hit with an unexpected expense as she now has to try to find a van to rent.
“I’m just making ends meet,” she said, noting additional expenses to small business including increased minimum wage and rising gas prices.
“What this guy did was absolutely uncalled for – everything is melted,” she said with her voice quavering, bursting into tears. “I can’t believe someone would do this.”
Balmer believes the suspect was possibly the same individual who had previously gone through the back of her property, urinating and going through vehicles, and was told to stop.
She has owned the Williams Lake Water Factory since 2005, and noted her business has experienced vandalism in the past to vehicles with stolen fuel and cut filler hoses.
Clark said a person of interest was seen in the area around the time the fire started and is described as Indigenous male, clean shaven and between 30 to 40 years old.
He was seen wearing dark-coloured track pants, black t-shirt, ball cap, shoes and backpack, and blue scarf/bandana over his face.
The person of interest was also riding a red, silver and black hardtail mountain bike.
The vehicle fire at the Williams Lake Water Factory was one of two suspicious fires recently attended by the Williams Lake RCMP and Williams Lake Fire Department.
An early morning fire on Tuesday, June 16 resulted in exterior side damage to Cycle Logic on Oliver Street.
“Currently, there is no information to suggest that these two fires are linked, however, investigators are looking at all options and evidence and have not ruled out any possibilities,” Clark stated.
Anyone with any information, CCTV or dash camera video from either of these two suspicious fires is urged to contact the Williams Lake RCMP at 250-392-6211 or Crime Stoppers.