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TUESDAY, July 30, 2013
Proudly serving Williams Lake and the Cariboo-Chilcotin since 1930
VOL. 83. No. 61
$1.30 inc. TAX
RCMP seek to bag purse thief The Williams Lake RCMP are looking for witnesses after a female’s purse was stolen Friday in Kiwanis Park. On July 26, at about 10 a.m., the female was sitting at a picnic bench in the park between the tennis courts and the children’s play area. A Caucasian male with short blond hair, wearing a white hat and purple tank top, approached her and asked for a cigarette. When she put her purse down to give him a cigarette, he grabbed the purse and ran off in the direction of Boitanio Park. Anyone who may have seen the incident is asked to please contact the Williams Lake RCMP at 250392-6211 or call CRIMESTOPPERS at 1-800-222-8477 to make an anonymous tip.
Inside the Tribune NEWS A2 Mine panel sees presentations. SPORTS A9 Fishing Forever finds a home. COMMUNITY A12 150 Mile schoolhouse tours open. Weather outlook: Mainly sunny today, high of 24 C. Sunny Wednesday, high of 29 C.
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Monica Lamb-Yorski photo
An apartment house on Yorston Street was destroyed by fire early Friday morning in Williams Lake. Dave Dickson, emergency services co-ordinator, said 16 people were affected by the blaze, but added no one in the apartment house was injured.
Fire guts apartment house Monica Lamb-Yorski Tribune Staff Writer Everyone who lived in the apartment house destroyed by fire in downtown Williams Lake Friday morning is OK, confirmed community policing and emergency services co-ordinator Dave Dickson Friday afternoon. Between the destroyed building and smoke damage to other apartment houses on either side, 16 people have been affected so far and were found temporary shelter. The people living in the apartment house appear to have lost everything, Dickson said. Crews were still at the site Friday afternoon removing debris from the site and placing it in a large pile across the street in a parking lot. Security guards were on site throughout the entire weekend.
The fire destroyed a three-story apartment house in the 100 block of Yorston Street. “We don’t know how it started at this time,” Rob Warnock, chief training co-ordinator of the Williams Lake fire department said Friday morning. Cory Myhr lived in the basement at the front of the building and said he believed the fire started in the back of the building in the bottom apartment. “I woke up because the smoke was coming in really heavy,” Myhr said. “I first saw the flames at the back of the building.” Myhr has lived in Williams Lake for 47 years, but only moved into the building a few months ago. It’s the second time his home has been destroyed by fire. “My house in Forest Grove burnt down to the ground and
I lost everything in there, too,” Myhr said. Beverly Hance lives directly next door in another apartment house and woke up hearing people yelling that there was a fire. “We were sleeping and could hear people saying, ‘There’s a fire get out, there’s a fire get out,’” she said. Her daughter looked out, saw the smoke and told her mom the place next door was on fire. “When I looked I could see smoke was coming out through a door on the back side of the building. There’s an apartment there, too,” Hance said. “The smoke started coming in so I closed the windows. When I looked back again the flames were just going.” Hance called the fire department because she figured some of the tenants in the burning building didn’t have phones.
“They’ve asked to use ours sometimes,” Hance said. At around 8 a.m. Anna Kalelest’s two young sons were watching the fire from across the street in the back of the family’s vehicle. They live next door the apartment house that was destroyed. “I grabbed some blankets that were hanging, put the boys in the car and moved over here to wait for the RCMP,” Kalelest said. “Our cat’s in there and in the upstairs apartment there’s a bird and a rabbit.” Also worried about his four cats, Ed LeBlanc paced back and forth close to the RCMP emergency scene tape set up to keep spectators at a safe distance. LeBlanc lives next door in a basement suite with his son. See BURNT Page A3