Three youths escaped injuries after being pulled from a fire in a dumpster behind an apartment block in downtown Williams Lake Sunday.
At approximately 5:35 p.m on April 28, the Williams Lake RCMP were called to a report of a dumpster filled with recyclable items from the Sandman Inn was on fire in the back alley of 655 Borland Street.
The apartment block is located beside the RCMP detachment in Williams Lake.
Police attended with the fire department and determined that several youth — aged 6 to 8 years — had started the fire inside the dumpster.
The youth became trapped inside the dumpster and were pulled to safety by a bystander who saw the flames, the RCMP said.
Assistant fire chief Rob Warnock said when the fire department arrived, the youth had already been pulled out of the dumpster.
"The kids were playing in it, lit it on fire, and couldn't get out when the fire started. The kids weren't there when I got there, but witnesses said they were fairly small because they couldn't see over the edge."
Stressing how lucky the children were because they were not injured, Warnock said it took a fire truck and crew to put the fire out.
"This could have been so dangerous for those three kids who couldn't get out of the dumpster on their own," he said.
RCMP Insp. Warren Brown confirmed the police spoke to the parents of the children and have asked the Ministry of Child and Family Services to engage as well.