Fauquier man faces criminal charges following house fire

By Aaron Orlando - Arrow Lakes News - May 13, 2008

A cold, late spring combined with a hot snap over the past weekend caused very heavy snow melt runoff in all local areas. Large logs and other forest debris shot over Wilson Creek Falls (above) on Saturday.

Aaron Orlando/Arrow Lakes News

59-year-old Fauquier resident Richard J. Adams is facing five Criminal Code charges following a series of events in Fauquier in the early morning hours of May 7 that culminated in a house fire that completely destroyed a residence on Starlite Road.

Corporal Barbara Vincent of the Nakusp RCMP Detachment says they are seeking to withhold certain details and other information while they are in the process of completing their investigation, but information provided by the RCMP paints a relatively clear picture of what they allege occurred that morning.

Cpl. Vincent says the Nakusp RCMP received a call for assistance from a residence on Starlite Road at around 2 a.m. and she responded along with Cst. Robinson from the Nakusp Detachment. After arriving at the scene they discovered a disturbance had occurred at the house, including a break and enter.

After a preliminary investigation, they set out to locate a suspect in the Fauquier area.

She says they were still in the Fauquier area at about 4 a.m., but not at the residence on Starlite Road, when they received a call about a fire at the same residence they had attended earlier.

She then returned to the same residence and found it ablaze.

Fauquier Volunteer Fire Department Chief John Banta arrived soon after, and says the two-storey log building was well involved when he arrived on scene and was already burning the surrounding bush. He says there was nothing that could have been done to save the building. He said Cpl. Vincent informed him there was nobody in the house when he arrived.

The department battled the blaze but they weren’t able to save the building. Chief Banta hopes their efforts will assist in the investigation of the incident. There were no injuries during the fire.

RCMP arrested Mr. Adams shortly afterwards in Fauquier, but Cpl. Vincent wouldn’t disclose the exact time, citing the ongoing investigation.

Fauquier resident Richard J. Adams faces five criminal counts. He is charged with uttering threats and also mischief in relation to property. He faces an arson charge under section 434.1 of the Criminal Code which relates to arson of one’s own property. He also faces a break and enter charge, and a breach of probation order charge.

The breach of probation charge relates to an incident that occurred on September 3, 2007 in Fauquier. Mr. Adams pled guilty to a charge of careless use of a firearm at Nakusp Provincial Courthouse on April 24, 2008. He was given a suspended sentence and probation of one year. A separate order imposed a 5-year firearms prohibition. He was ordered to surrender all firearms in his possession within 90 days. A separate order prohibited him from having contact with a Fauquier woman.

Mr. Adams is currently being held in custody and will next appear in court on May 15 in Nelson.

Cpl. Vincent praises the efforts of the many organizations that responded during and after the incident. She says the Fauquier Volunteer Fire Department responded very quickly to the scene of the fire and conducted themselves professionally in battling the blaze. “They were just fantastic,” she says.

Cpl. Vincent also said that Victim Services workers were of great assistance in the hours and days following the incident.

She also thanks Nakusp Fire Chief Terry Warren for his help coordinating the subsequent investigation of the fire, and the Slocan Lake RCMP Detachment for their assistance. Cpl. Vincent says no firearms were involved in the incident.

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Fauquier man faces criminal charges following house fire

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