Vancouver arson suspect found badly burned

by Rob Peters | February 14, 2008 at 08:08 am

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UPDATE: Police believe they've found the suspect witnesses saw fleeing the scene early Wednesday morning.

Vancouver police say they've found a suspect in the fire and explosion that destroyed a taco restaurant and a coffee shop on the city's west side early Wednesday morning.

A man is in hospital with burns to 40 per cent of his body, police said Thursday morning. He is not currently under arrest, they said.

Police allege he is the same man that two witnesses said they saw running away from the scene of the fire and explosion, which destroyed the Taco Del Mar at 680 West Broadway Ave. and the neighbouring Starbucks, as well as damaging several other businesses.

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Vancouver police say the early-morning explosion that destroyed two Broadway Street businesses was deliberately set. Here's what the owner of the restaurant where the fire originated told the CBC.

The owner of a Vancouver restaurant ripped apart by a massive explosion said she could not think of any reason why someone would set fire to her establishment.

Manjeet Nandha told CBC News Wednesday she never encountered any trouble while operating Taco Del Mar at 680 West Broadway for the past three years. She added that she never had any problems with staff.

"I was shaken up," she said. "I got a call this morning about four or six [o'clock]. My husband picked up the phone and all he [understood] is there [was] a fire in the Starbucks and the Taco Del Mar," she said.

Vancouver police spokesman Const. Tim Fanning confirmed that the Wednesday morning fire was set deliberately. It resulted in an explosion that destroyed the restaurant and a coffee shop, and damaged several other businesses.

"The fire was set inside Taco del Mar … at about 2:30 a.m.," he said.