The VPD’s emergency response unit searched the campus and found a number of suspicious devices over the course of the afternoon. Article content A 20-year-old man was arrested Monday afternoon following a fire that caused the evacuation of Langara College in Vancouver. Const. Jason Doucette of the Vancouver Police Department said the man was captured in Surrey just after 4 p.m. by Metro Vancouver Transit Police. We apologize, but this video has failed to load. tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Man arrested after suspicious fire leads to evacuation of Langara College Back to video The suspicious fire broke out just before noon on Monday in a building on 49th Avenue between Ontario and Columbia streets. Doucette said that after speaking to witnesses, police determined a person had entered the college with incendiary devices, lighting “one or more fires” before leaving, said Doucette. He said police quickly identified a suspect and a search began. The man arrested by transit police is now in Vancouver police custody. The school initially cancelled all classes inside its science and technology building, known as T Building, because of the fire. However, just before 1 p.m., Langara asked students and staff to leave the entire campus. Children at the campus daycare were moved to the YMCA facility nearby. There were no reported injuries. The VPD’s emergency response unit began searching the campus for additional hazards and found a number of suspicious devices over the course of the afternoon. Their search was expected to continue Monday night. PNG<doc-sep>UPDATE — April 3, 2019: Classes have resumed at the Langara College campus, with the exception of the technology building, which remains closed. EARLIER STORY: Arson charges have been laid against a student at Langara College after a series of small fires led to an evacuation at the school's main campus on Monday. Police were called just before noon Monday and quickly determined that a suspect had allegedly entered the college with "incendiary devices." Two of the devices detonated, causing fires, before the suspect fled. Metro Vancouver Transit Police arrested Nasradin Abdusamad Ali, 23, in Surrey about four hours later. Police and fire crews swarmed the Langara College campus on West 49th Avenue in Vancouver on Monday after several small fires broke out on campus. (Denis Dossmann/CBC) On Tuesday, Vancouver police said Ali has been charged with one count of arson in relation to inhabited property and one count of possession of incendiary material. Const. Jason Doucette said the police bomb disposal unit detonated a third device at the scene. "At least one of them had some sort of device attached to it as an ignition," said Doucette. Ali made a brief court appearance in provincial court Tuesday afternoon. He entered the enclosed prisoner's box dressed in blue coveralls with a white zipper. He was advised to hire a lawyer before his bail hearing Friday morning. Lisa Fisher, Langara's director of communications, confirmed Tuesday that Ali is a student currently registered at the school. She said he's been a student "for a couple of years," but she did not say whether he attended classes at the building in question. Police helped firefighters evacuate Langara College. (Maryse Zeidler/CBC) Fisher said most of the main campus is expected to reopen Wednesday, with the exception of the T-building. "There's no reason for the campus community or the public to be concerned about coming back to campus," she said, adding, "students who had classes in T-building should check with their teachers for further instructions." Fisher said remediation crews were on campus Tuesday, drying out multiple floors, as sprinklers were activated on Monday. 'Everyone was freaking out' Students, who are in their last week of spring term, said they didn't realize the gravity of what was happening on Monday afternoon. "We all thought it was a drill at first," said student Anna Amigut, who'd been on the third floor of the technical building when the evacuations began. "We were annoyed obviously, then everyone was freaking out when we actually saw the whole second floor full of smoke [on our way out]." A note on the college's website confirms police have completed a sweep of all campus buildings and have declared the college "secure,'' but classes at the West 49th Avenue campus were cancelled Tuesday and the daycare was also closed. "The explosive disposal unit [has] gone through the school, they have located devices, examined them and destroyed them,'' said Doucette. The college said information on how to retrieve important personal belongings left behind in Monday's evacuation would be provided on Tuesday. No one was hurt.<doc-sep>Send this page to someone via email Vancouver police have arrested a suspect in an incident at Vancouver’s Langara College on Monday involving a fire, which led to the evacuation of the campus. According to police, a man in his 20s entered the campus just before noon with multiple “incendiary devices,” allegedly using them to light “one or more fires” at the school before fleeing. Paramedics and firefighters were called to the scene, along with the Vancouver police Emergency Response Team to help evacuate the campus. “The Vancouver Police Department (VPD) Emergency Response Team did enter the school, have gone through inch by inch of the school and they actually remain here right now just to make sure there’s nothing left over,” said VPD Const. Jason Doucette Monday evening. Story continues below advertisement “We have recovered a number of devices. Some were lit on fire, some did go off, some didn’t and we’ve made those safe at this point.” According to investigators, the suspect was quickly identified by someone on campus, and Metro Vancouver Transit Police arrested him in Surrey. Police are not saying whether the suspect was identified by a staff member or student, nor are they identifying the suspect or saying whether he is a student or former student. They also said the school received no warning ahead of the incident. The VPD said it plans to continue to search the campus into the night, and are reviewing video evidence. Classes cancelled Langara College initially cleared students from the T-Building and library, which share a ventilation system, around noon due to a fire. Students were initially let back into the library, but after police issued a call for people to report anything suspicious, all classes and exams were cancelled and students and staff were told to evacuate the campus around 1:15 p.m. “There was just a lot of confusion I would say,” student Kristian Trevana told Global News. “I saw quite a few firefighters. The police were quite spread out throughout the campus telling people to leave.” Story continues below advertisement Langara is asking for information if anyone saw anything suspicious in the T-Building this morning. Crazy day, hoping that everyone is okay pic.twitter.com/8OqMijQxY3 — Kristian Trevena (@k_trevena) April 1, 2019 Students, staff, and faculty should vacate the campus for the rest of the day. Classes and exams are cancelled. We will provide further updates as we learn more. — Langara College (@langaracollege) April 1, 2019 The fire department is currently attending an incident in T building. Please stay clear of the area until further notice. — Langara College (@langaracollege) April 1, 2019 Photos from the scene showed multiple fire trucks outside the college, and heavily armed police in tactical gear on campus. “My school cancelled all classes and evacuated campus today because of ‘a fire,'” tweeted one student. “But u need an assault rifle for a fire?” so my school cancelled all classes and evacuated campus today because of “a fire” but u need an assault rifle for a fire? #langara pic.twitter.com/wd0M0ngQOL — ki (@nipihkan) April 1, 2019 “You gotta go. It’s not a happy moment if you get shot” – Is what I was told. Evacuate. Never mind. Evacuate. Neverm-. EVACUATE. So much misinformation ffs. Chopper support now above. No update from @langaracollege re: exactly what is going on. #langara #vancouver #HappeningNow pic.twitter.com/ejc93GJVEc — Arjun Sahjpaul (@TheRealKoums) April 1, 2019 TransLink said it had detoured buses along 49th Avenue, which was closed by police. Langara’s campus on 49th Avenue, along with its campus at 601 West Broadway remained closed Monday evening. READ MORE: UBC situation clears up after RCMP investigate threat made by phone The College says the 49th Avenue campus will remain closed on Tuesday, but the Broadway campus will reopen as usual. Students and staff are being asked to check the Langara College website for updates.<doc-sep>
Vancouver police have arrested a man in his 20s in connection with a suspected arson at Langara College. The school was evacuated around 1 p.m. on Monday because of a fire that police at the time said may have been deliberately set. In a statement, police said a man entered the school with incendiary devices. "It appears the suspect may have lit one or more fires before fleeing from the scene," the statement read in part. Police say the suspect was quickly identified, once officers arrived on the scene. He was arrested in Surrey by Metro Vancouver Transit Police just after 4 p.m. and is now in custody. The college said the campus, which is on West 49th Avenue in Vancouver, will remain closed Tuesday after classes and exams were cancelled Monday. School search ongoing The Vancouver Police Department said its officers, along with B.C. Ambulance and Langara staff, helped firefighters get everyone out of the school. Officers then explored the building to look for any other dangers. The search was expected to continue into the night. First responders are asking people to avoid West 49th Avenue from Ontario to Alberta streets. It appears that the fire may have been deliberately set. Police are on-site to ensure the safety of staff, students & residents of the neighborhood.Officers are systematically going through the school to identify any additional hazards. No injuries have been reported. #VPD https://t.co/NiGJ0GEeSX —@VancouverPD The school first reported an "incident" in its "T" building at about 11:30 a.m. PT Monday. That building was evacuated and the library closed while firefighters attended. The entire school would be cleared out 1½ hours later. Langara is posting updates on its website and Twitter feed.