Fort St. John RCMP looking for surveillance video after Duncan Cran playground fire

FORT ST. JOHN, B.C. — The Fort St. John RCMP is on the lookout for surveillance video after playground equipment at Duncan Cran Elementary School was set on fire late Sunday night.

The Fort St. John Fire Department responded to reports of the school’s playground equipment being on fire at about 10:40 p.m. Sunday evening.

Once on scene, firefighters saw the whole playground structure was aflame and quickly extinguished the blaze at approximately 10:48 p.m.

Local firefighters ruled the fire as suspicious and passed the investigation on to the Fort St. John RCMP.

RCMP media relations officer, Madonna Saunderson, said the investigation is ongoing, and no suspects have been identified by the RCMP.

Saunderson said Fort St. John police have identified three witnesses and are now looking for video surveillance of the incident.

Those with any information about the fire can contact the Fort St. John RCMP detachment at 250-787-8100.

Duncan Cran Elementary vice-principal Janny Lavoie told Energeticcity the school is extremely saddened about the fire, but it won’t deter staff and students from having a positive end to the school year.

“We are a strong and resilient community,” Lavoie began, “we do thankfully have other playground equipment, but this is still a devastating loss for us at this time.”

A GoFundMe has been set up to raise funds for the school to rebuild its playground structure. As of Tuesday afternoon, it has raised $1,100.