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OPINION THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2020
LOCAL NEWS – LOCAL MATTERS.
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TEMPLE FIRE: Firefighters check the roof of a South Burnaby Sikh temple where a parade float parked next to the building was destroyed in a suspicious fire.
PHOTO RYAN STELTING
Burnaby temple hit by second suspicious fire Cornelia Naylor
cnaylor@burnabynow.com
Police are investigating a fire that scorched a South Burnaby Sikh gurdwara and destroyed a parade float Saturday night. Fire crews were called to the Shri Guru Ravidass Sabha gurdwara at 7271 Gilley Ave., sometimes referred to as the Gilley temple, just after 9 p.m. for reports of a fire, according to assistant fire Chief GregYoung.
On arrival, they found a Chevy pickup truck, which had been outfitted for use as a parade float, engulfed in flames, he said. The vehicle was parked right next to the building. After knocking down the blaze, firefighters checked to see if the fire had spread into the concrete-block building, but it had not, according to Young. Students coming to the gurdwara to pick up din-
ner had been the first to spot the blaze and alerted the people inside, according to Shri Guru Ravidass Sabha president Harjit Sohpaul. He said the parade float was a “total loss,” and parts of the inside of the building had also sustained damage. This is the second time a float used in the gurdwara’s annual Nagar Kirtan parade has gone up in flames in a suspicious fire. A December 2009 blaze
destroyed a parade float and sent two resident priests to hospital for observation. Fire investigators determined that fire had been deliberately set, but police never solved the case, according to Sohpaul. A security camera has been installed since then, and, on Saturday night, it captured a person walking away from the place where the fire started, Sohpaul said. He said his community believes the parade
float may been a symbolic target. “They’re feeling sad,” he said of his community members. “It’s a symbol, and somebody attacking the integrity of that, the religion, you don’t feel good about it. If somebody have a grudge they (should) come and talk to us.” In a press release Monday, Burnaby RCMP said it’s early in the investigation, but arson investigators haven’t found any ev-
idence yet to suggest the incident was racially motivated. Police are now asking anyone who may have witnessed the fire or have dashcam video in the area of Beresford Street and Gilley Avenue between 8:30 p.m. and 9:30 p.m. Friday to contact them at 604-646-9999.To remain anonymous, contact Crime Stoppers at 1-800222-TIPS (8477) or www. solvecrime.ca.