A 27-year-old man was charged with arson after a fire broke out in a Cavell Apartment, Dec. 12.
According to the RCMP, first responders arrived on scene shortly after 3 p.m. to find the fire had already caused significant damage to the apartment.
Firefighters were able to quickly contain the fire and put it out by 3:30 p.m.聽 There were no reports of injuries.
While firefighters were evacuating tenants of the building, police located a man they believed had allegedly started the fire and took him into custody.
Upon further investigation, police said the man recklessly used a propane torch inside the apartment and had wrapped it in a jacket before throwing it inside a fridge.
As a result of the investigation, Tyler Colin Genaille was charged with one count of arson causing property damage and one count of mischief over $5,000. He declined to speak to a judge at his bail hearing. As a result he was remanded in custody and is set to appear in Jasper Provincial Court on Dec. 22, 2016.聽 None of the charges have been proven in court.
During the evacuation of the building Fire Chief Greg Van Tighem expressed his frustration that people didn鈥檛 seem to leave the building when they heard the fire alarm going off.
鈥淲hat was surprising was that we had to do a second sweep of the apartment. Even with all the alarms going off some people were just not leaving,鈥� said Van Tighem, adding that crew members had to go knocking on doors to get people to leave the building.
鈥淚f there鈥檚 a fire alarm going off, then get out.鈥�
Kayla Byrne [email protected]
Paul Clarke [email protected]
