Suspects arrested after 'world's largest burl' damaged in suspicious fire on Vancouver Island
CTV
Mounties have arrested two suspects after a roadside attraction on northern Vancouver Island was damaged in a suspicious fire Wednesday night.
Mounties have arrested two suspects after a roadside attraction on northern Vancouver Island was damaged in a suspicious fire Wednesday night.
Firefighters in Port McNeill battled through the night and into Thursday morning to save what remains of the oddity known as the world's largest tree burl.
The Port McNeill RCMP later released surveillance images of the suspects carrying a yellow jerry can near the area where the fire started, saying in a statement the blaze "appears to have been a deliberate act with the apparent intent to destroy the town's prized point of interest."
Discovered in 2005, the burl was estimated to weigh 30 tonnes when it was cut from a 525-year-old Sitka spruce near the community of Holberg, B.C., according to Guinness World Records.
Port McNeill Mayor James Furney and B.C. RCMP Staff-Sgt. Kris Clark say the suspects were caught Thursday night, however no charges have been laid.
Police say the fire was set around 11:19 p.m. in the 1400-block of Broughton Boulevard, near the town's waterfront.
"Both the burl and its structure were fully engulfed in flames, causing extensive damage to the uniquely large spruce growth," the RCMP said. "Its protective structure was completely destroyed."
