Conditional sentence for Kamloops, B.C., woman who set fires at start of 2022 wildfire season

A 43-year-old Kamloops, B.C., woman who admitted to setting two arson fires has been sentenced.

Angela Cornish was charged with four counts of arson, related to numerous fires set between April and May 2022, at the start of the wildfire season.

Cornish pleaded guilty to two arsons near the southern Interior community of Lac Le Jeune and records show she received a six-month conditional sentence during an appearance in provincial court in Kamloops on Tuesday.

The court stayed other charges related to alleged arsons near Monte Lake, Pinantan Lake and Lac Le Jeune.

An investigation by RCMP and the B.C. Wildfire Service began last spring after residents alerted officials to slash piles that had been set ablaze along remote logging roads south and east of Kamloops.

None of the fires spread into the nearby grass or bush.

The number of human-caused fires in 2022 was one of the lowest since 1950, according to the B.C. Wildfire Service.An above-average number of fires 68 per cent were caused by lightning in 2022, it said.