Burns Lake fire chief Jim McBride said that last Tuesday's fire in a storage shed facility behind the Burns Lake Band's Rainbow Motel was definitely a suspicious fire.

"It was a separate structure that had no electricity to it, as far as I can tell it [the structure] was just used as storage shed," he said.

According to McBride the building held approximately 90 per cent consumables such as paper which added a great deal of fuel to the fire.

"It looked to be a storage place for old literature, documents and records," added McBride. Tuesday's call to the fire department came in at 3:21 pm which resulted in 15 local firefighters attending the scene. "All of the fire apparatus was used for this fire," said McBride.

McBride also noted that the fire crew was on site for an hour and 30 minutes. As a result of the fire the siding on the Rainbow Motel was also damaged and McBride estimates that the damage would cost approximately $20,000 in repairs.

"The radiant heat from the fire melted the siding as the fire was only 10 or 12 feet away," said McBride. "The Rainbow Motel was evacuated because the structure was definitely threatened by the fire," he said. "The fire crew were able to contain the fire quickly and stop any further damage to the motel building itself," noted McBride.

"Unfortunately, due to the time of the fire, there was a large percentage of the school population spectating, we were fortunate that we had the assistance of the Burns Lake RCMP to help us and keep the spectators well back from harms way," McBride said.

"This was definitely an act of arson, an intentionally set fire" he added. According to McBride there is currently an ongoing investigation by both himself and the Burns Lake RCMP into the exact cause and any suspects.

Wesley Sam, councillor for the Burns Lake Band noted that the money for repair of the Rainbow Motels siding caused by Tuesday's fire has to come directly from the pockets of the band. "I am not sure of the exact estimates, but I do know that the damage is not enough to claim on the insurance, so we will have to pay to fix it," he said.

"We will not be rebuilding the storage shed again, it will just be torn down," Sam added. Sam noted that he was unsure who was to blame for the fire but assumed that there were smokers hanging around the storage building. "I do not know what is going on, there was another shed of ours burnt down last year and now this one, there is definitely a fire bug around," he added.

"It is getting ridiculous," Sam said. There was noting of great importance stored in the building," he said. According to Sam the mess will be cleaned up but it is unsure at this point when repairs will be made to the Rainbow Motel are made.