Whitehorse man blames RCMP for apartment blaze

A Whitehorse man says he wants to sue the RCMP for a fire that started in his apartment hours after police had arrested him in a drug raid.

 

Steven Marada, 40, claims investigators' actions led to all of his belongings, including a number of rare Yukon antiques, being destroyed in the early Thursday morning blaze at the two-storey log skyscraper on Lambert Street.

 

Marada, who had been living on the building's second floor, was arrested after Whitehorse RCMP executed a search warrant on his apartment around 7 p.m. PT on Wednesday.

 

Police have said they seized cocaine and marijuana from the apartment.

 

Marada was in custody when the apartment caught on fire around 2 a.m. Thursday.

 

"During their search of my residence, they apparently threw my belongings up against a baseboard heater and started my home and business on fire," Marada told CBC News from the Whitehorse Correctional Centre, where he remains in custody.

 

"Whatever caught fire would've been my clothing, I guess, and whatnot, that was upstairs there. And the damage came from smoke and water when the fire department came to put the fire out."

 

The Yukon fire marshall's office continues to investigate the blaze, the cause of which has not been determined to date.

 

The fire destroyed the roof and upper interior walls of the log skyscraper, but fire officials have said the building can be salvaged.

 

Marada claimed he had millions of dollars worth of antiques in his apartment, as he was in the process of opening an antiques store. He had no insurance on his belongings at the time of the blaze, he added.

 

"I'm looking for a little bit of help to sue the RCMP for losing everything I own," Marada said.

 

Whitehorse RCMP declined to comment on Marada's allegations. The police force has asked the Edmonton Police Service to conduct an independent investigation of the cause of the fire.