British ColumbiaAn overnight fire on the roof of a Kamloops, B.C., school led to water and smoke damage early Sunday morning.Students won’t be back in the building for a number of weeksListen to this articleEstimated 3 minutesA fire is seen on the roof of Westmount Elementary School in Kamloops, B.C., on Oct. 26, 2025. (Maverick Landsburg/Facebook)An overnight fire at a Kamloops, B.C., elementary school, which police suspect was arson, will displace students for several weeks.Parents of Westmount Elementary School haven’t yet been told how extensive the damage is, says parent advisory committee chair Jelena Hansen. However, they know that students — of which there are roughly 250 — won’t be back in the building for a number of weeks.”I’m sure wherever they’re gonna place us will be fine, and we’re a good little tight-knit community, so I’m sure we’ll all persevere through it,” she said.Hansen said the fire appears to have damaged the school’s library, which has been upsetting for her children. “My youngest obviously cried because … the fire was in the library,” she said.”And of course, he had a big reaction to that, because his favourite thing in the world is to read and he loves the library.”Officials investigateKamloops Fire Rescue platoon captain Jim Gorman said crews responded just before 1 a.m. PT on Sunday.Firefighters were able to knock the flames down fairly quickly, and fire investigators and RCMP will look into the exact cause of the blaze.”There is some damage to the roof. I believe there’s no real structural damage to the building itself, but yeah, there’s definitely some water and smoke damage,” Gorman said.The fire led to water and smoke damage at the school, a firefighter said. (Maverick Landsburg/Facebook)Staff Sgt. Chris Kienzle said that investigators believe someone was on the roof before the fire was lit, though no one was reported injured from the incident.Police are looking for video footage from home security and doorbell cameras, Kienzle said.Darlene Doricic, who lives next door to Westmount Elementary, took a video of the firefight early Sunday morning. (Submitted by Darlene Doricic)A spokesperson for the Kamloops-Thompson School District said in a statement that they would update Westmount Elementary students and their parents on how school could look going forward.”District staff are working with the [fire inspector] to determine the extent of the damage and to initiate remediation,” they wrote.Darlene Doricic, who lives next door to Westmount, captured video of the fire and said it was sad to see a community institution be damaged.”[It] just starts to make you angry because like, this is your home and you don’t want to see anything damaged and let alone, you know, the school my kids went to,” she said.
Arson suspected after overnight fire at Kamloops, B.C., school
