Increase in arson cases not setting off alarm for Regina police

Deliberately set fires are on the rise in Regina.

Crime stats from September show arson has increased by about 83 per cent from last year. In September 2014, there were a total of 41 incidents reported for the year at that time. That compares to 75 incidents for the year in September 2015.

“Arson is always a volatile statistic. It can go up and down very erratically,” said police Chief Troy Hagen.

Hagen said fires are typically set by just a handful of people, and that’s what they’re seeing in this case. While intentionally set fires are never something the service wants to see, at this point the chief doesn’t consider the figures to be terribly alarming.