(KIM ANDERSON / iNFOnews.ca)

A Kamloops woman may spend her sentence on house arrest after setting multiple small wildfires in rural areas outside the city.

Angela Elise Cornish, 42, was caught with multiple butane tanks, lighters, hand sanitizer and fire starter as she drove away from fires she started last spring.

Police followed her after starting an investigation in the Westwold area in May 2022, watching her park in rural areas like Lac le Jeune and set trees on fire.

She's been on strict bail conditions for the past year, restricted from going to any forested area near Kamloops, along with parks and protected areas.

"Despite... the risk in the context of wildfires, the offences were not committed in residential areas frequented by people," Crown prosecutor Nadia Farinelli said in Kamloops Provincial Court.

Farinelli added that Cornish appeared to make efforts to ensure she was away from urban areas rather than near homes, but judge Roy Dickey clarified there are still homes and ranches in that area.

Cornish pleaded guilty in January to four counts of arson, related to several small wildfires last spring.

The investigation started in the Westwold area at the end of April 2022, where a resident saw smoke in the hills and a suspicious truck leaving the scene.

The wildfires were tackled quickly and didn't spread widely, but those in the Westwold and Monte Lake areas came on the heels of a devastating 2021 wildfire season and the White Rock Lake wildfire.

Although the investigation started near Westwold, she didn't plead guilty to those fires. There were "serious evidentiary hurdles" as police tried to confirm it was, in fact, Cornish who started those fires, according to Farinelli.

She added, however, the BC Wildfire Service spent around $15,000 to douse the fires Cornish pleaded guilty to starting. The wildfire service plans to recover those costs from her.

At the time of the fires, Cornish was dealing with withdrawal from her medication Dexedrine, according to her lawyer Lana Walker.

Walker said she is a "lover of animals" and has a penchant for campfires, which she uses to "reconnect with nature."

"The intention was not to start large, damaging fires. It was for personal healing and growth," Walker told the court.

Dickey expressed concerns with the risk associated with arson in a forest. Although the arsons weren't intended to harm people or damage private property, they had the risk of spreading into massive wildfires.

Although defense and prosecutors suggested a six-month conditional sentence on June 22, Dickey said he will need more time to make a decision.

The sentence would include three months of house arrest, followed by three months of curfew and another 12 months on probation. All time under curfew and probation will likely continue to bar her from forested areas and parks.

"I don't know what to say. I just feel really bad," Cornish told the court at the end of her hearing.

Dickey postponed his sentencing, however, to consider the proposed conditional sentence.

To contact a reporter for this story, email Levi Landry or call 250-819-3723 or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.

We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above. 

News from © iNFOnews, 2023