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Flares cause scare in Polson Park ROGER KNOX Morning Star Staff
Vernon RCMP, with help from City of Vernon bylaw officers, defused a potentially explosive situation in Polson Park Tuesday. Officers cordoned off and evacuated the park just after 9 a.m. after receiving a report of a man trying to sell what was believed to be dynamite in the park. The individual was located by police and taken into custody, and a Vancouver-based RCMP bomb disposal unit had been called to be flown up to investigate. “A package with something in it was located in the park,” said Vernon RCMP spokesperson Gord Molendyk at a 10 a.m. media conference Tuesday. By the end of the conference, police had determined that their suspicions of the package containing railway flares was correct, and the bomb disposal unit was told to stand down. “The individual claims he found the package alongside the tracks,” said Molendyk. The man, 18, from Vernon, was still in custody as of noon Tuesday. The park reopened to the public shortly after 10 a.m.
JENNIFER SMITH/MORNING STAR
An RCMP officer holds up police tape to allow a couple of park-goers to exit Polson Park, which was evacuated Tuesday morning as police investigated what was thought to be dynamite, but turned out to be railway flares. Closing the park was done as a precautionary measure while police investigated the report of dynamite.
The Okanagan Science Centre was in the process of receiving its new water exhibit Tuesday morning from two huge semi trucks
when everybody was told they had to leave the park. “All they said was they were investigating a bomb threat,” said
Sandi Dixon with the science centre. The Vernon Community Arts Centre was also evacuated.
BX home destroyed
RICHARD ROLKE/MORNING STAR
A BX Road home was gutted by flames Monday evening, but no one was home at the time.
It’s undetermined what led to flames consuming a Vernon home. A fire was reported in the 1000 block of BX Road just after 11:30 p.m. Monday. “We’re still in the preliminary investigation stage at this point,” said Dean Wakefield, an investigator with the Vernon Fire Department. It is not believed to be suspicious though. “We have to get inside and have a good look at things,” said Wakefield. Crew from both the Vernon and BX-Swan Lake departments responded to the scene.
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“The fire was quite entrenched,” said Bill Wacey, BX-Swan Lake chief. “The flames were 35 to 40 feet in the air when we got there. There was nothing we could do. It was completely gutted.” Getting on to the property proved challenging. “There’s really difficult access with a long driveway. Eventually we got into operation,” said Wacey. The tenants were away at the time of the fire and it’s not known if they had content insurance. Firefighters are also trying to determine how the roof of a shed caught fire in the 1200 block of 40th Avenue Saturday. ELIGIB ELI GIBLE GIB LE MEMBER MEMMBER ME BERSS RECE RECE EC IVE
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