Image: CFJC Today

By Michael Reeve

INTERFACE FIRE INVESTIGATION

Kamloops Fire Rescue and RCMP working together on origin of Strathcona Park fire

Jul 9, 2025 | 4:29 PM

KAMLOOPS — A fire broke out just before 4 p.m. in Strathcona Park Tuesday (July 8), which quickly grew to one hectare in size before firefighters put it out. Following eyewitness reports of it potentially being arson, Kamloops Mounties are now investigating.

“There was about 100×100 metre area that was burnt, and Kamloops Fire Rescue did come in and were able to contain that, and put that fire out,” said Kamloops RCMP Cpl. Dana Napier. “We do have a person of interest that has been identified as a result of our investigation of that fire. It is suspicious at this time, and we are investigating this arson to determine if it is related to other fires going on in the city.”

Kamloops Fire Rescue will be playing a key role in the arson investigation.

“The fire departments role is to determine the origin and the probable cause or the confirmed cause of a fire,” stated KFR Chief Ken Uzeloc. “So we will work to determine where did the fire start, and then at the origin point, what do we think is the cause of the fire.”

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KFR responded to three landscape or interface fires on Tuesday, and are still investigating the cause of the one out towards Dallas.

“The one on Kokanee last night, is still under investigation,” added Uzeloc. “They are still looking at a number of possibilities, and that is what our investigators do. They look at what are the different hypothesis that could have started this, and that is the same as in a structure fire.”

While Kamloops was inundated with rain on Wednesday, it isn’t expected to have a lasting effect on the fire danger rating across the community.

“It looks like we are getting a lot of rain but that’s not really be absorbed into the ground,” said Uzeloc. “And all we need is a little bit of wind with that heat, and that warm wind movement and it tends to dry the ground out fairly quickly. So for us here, that last week of June to the third week of august we are on heightened alert.”

At this time the person of interest is not being identified by the RCMP, while they work with KFR on the origin and cause investigation.

“We continually work together with Kamloops Fire Rescue to determine causes and to look at fire patterns and behaviors,” said Napier. “We are asking the public though if they do know anything about the fire or anybody that may have been involved to please call us and report that to our detachment at 250-828-3000.”