BC Man Receives Jail Time for Arsons During Wildfire Season

A helicopter is used to battle the Shetland Creek wildfire, near Kamloops, B.C., in a July 21, 2024, handout photo. The Canadian Press/HO - B.C. Wildfire Service

A B.C. man has pleaded guilty to a series of arsons in Nelson, B.C., during the wildfire season last year and will spend 593 days in jail.

Judge Craig Sicotte of the Provincial Court of British Columbia said in his Oct. 20 decision, which was recently published online, that the summer of 2024 was “hot, dry and fire prone” in the West Kootenays, where a fire ban was in effect from July 12 to Aug. 28. There were 91 fires burning in the region, 66 of which were deemed to be “out of control,” Sicotte noted, while the nearby community of Silverton, B.C., had been evacuated on July 24, 2024.

David Travis, 45, lit four fires at three separate locations in the city of Nelson on the same day Silverton was evacuated, the decision said. The first arson occurred at 6:30 p.m. in Gyro Park while many families were using the park. The fire spread to approximately 20 metres by 50 metres in size before firefighters, including a helicopter with a water bucket, extinguished it.

While firefighters were attending to the first fire, Travis broke into a home where he lit a fire in the basement and another fire in the yard, the court heard. Residents nearby quickly extinguished the fire before firefighters arrived at the scene.

In the meantime, Travis made his way to the Walmart in the city and lit a fire in a bush behind the building. Bystanders alerted authorities and Travis was arrested shortly after.

At the time of the arsons, Travis was homeless, not taking mental health medication, and was consuming alcohol and crystal methamphetamine “to excess,” the court heard.

Travis told the court that he lit the fires in Nelson because he believed human trafficking was going on in the city. “Presumably he was going to punish or cleanse the city by burning it down,” Sicotte wrote.

Sentencing Decision

While the Crown sought a three-year federal prison sentence for Travis, the defence counsel asked for a conditional sentence of two years less one day followed by probation for three years.

Sicotte said the mitigating factors he took into consideration included that Travis pled guilty early and saved “substantial” court time, and the fact that he had taken “serious steps” to address his substance use issues by spending a “lengthy period of time” in treatment and taking medication to address his mental health issues.

“His steps towards rehabilitation are significant,” Sicotte wrote, adding that Travis has also been on “very strict” bail terms and has exhibited remorse and understanding about the dangerous nature of the arsons he committed.

Meanwhile, Sicotte also considered aggravating factors of Travis’s previous criminal record, although it was not arson-related, the fact that he was on probation at the time of offending, and that he lit four separate fires within a brief period of time, stretching municipal resources thin during the active wildfire season.

Sicotte concluded that while a federal jail sentence wasn’t necessary, a conditional sentence wasn’t appropriate either given the circumstances of the offences, noting that he was “concerned about the safety of the community” if Travis were to be given a conditional sentence not served behind bars.

“I am of the view that the primary objectives in this sentencing, protecting society by denouncing and deterring such unlawful conduct necessitates a custodial sentence,” Sicotte wrote in his decision.

“It is clear that the primary considerations on sentencing for arson are denunciation and deterrence. Rehabilitation is still an important factor, but must be subordinate to denunciation and deterrence,” he added.

He also said Travis’s conduct in intentionally lighting multiple fires during the wildfire season was “so extremely dangerous that it created enormous risk of massive property destruction and loss of life.”

Additionally, while no formal victim impact statements have been filed, Sicotte said he had “no doubt that the residents of Nelson would have been frightened and possibly even traumatized by someone deliberately lighting fires in the middle of their town at such a time.”

Sicotte sentenced Travis to three months in jail for the fire behind Walmart, 16 months for the fire in the house and yard, and two years less one day for the fire in Gyro Park. The Canadian Criminal Code says arson is an “indictable offence” with a punishment of up to 14 years imprisonment.

The sentences would be served concurrently, and since Travis already spent 91 days in jail for these offences, Sicotte applied a credit of 136 days to his sentence. Travis’s remaining sentence as of Oct. 20 was 593 days in jail, followed by three years of probation.