Kamloops Mounties say a 39-year-old man is in custody after an arson at a hotel complex downtown early yesterday morning.

Sgt. Darren Michels says it happened just after 1 a.m. at 650 Victoria Street, the address of the Thompson Hotel as well as the Noble Pig Brewhouse.

Managing partner and chef at the Noble Pig, Jared Summers, says the fire was set in the underground parkade behind the brewhouse, saying his business suffered “significant losses.”

“Based on our video surveillance, it was definitely arson and that there was a strong attempt to probably burn the whole building down. They got as far as a storage shed that we have just outside our building in the underground parking lot, just underneath the Thompson Hotel. So that shed is destroyed and there’s plenty of smoke damage all around that area.”

The brewhouse has been closed since the fire, but Summers says it will reopen for lunch on Saturday afternoon.

“As far as that work goes, it’s really cleaning. Cleaning absolutely everything. When we came in the building that evening, there was heavy smoke inside, downstairs especially, in and around our brewery and production facilities. So we are getting all of our team involved that was on the schedule, making sure that they can keep close to the shifts that they had even though we’re not open.”

General manager of the Thompson Hotel, Pav Moore, says 70 per cent of the rooms in the family-owned hotel are out of service right now because of smoke damage.

“But it’s not affecting the guests who are already here and are checking in. We have adequate rooms that will accommodate those who are coming, and our guests are quite comfortable, so we’ve had no issues there.”

Moore says repairs to the damaged part of the hotel will take several weeks, saying staff are waiting on insurance. “It’s essentially more of a health risk too, with the soot, and the smell of the smoke is quite strong. And there’s significant damage on the far end of the hotel that was directly above where the initial fire was started.”

Meanwhile, the video surveillance from the Noble Pig was provided to police and helped track down the suspect.

Michels says the suspect was arrested about two-and-a-half hours after the fire was started, and charges against that person are now being recommended.

“It is very disheartening that someone would intentionally start a fire like this in our community putting others at risk for no apparent reason,” Michels says. “We are certainly very happy that this fire was observed early and didn’t have time to spread”.

Just last weekend, right next door to the restaurant and hotel, fire crews were called to a suspicious scene at a building under construction where someone dumped gasoline on the ground floor. The building is where a 112-unit affordable seniors housing apartment is being built, with ground-floor commercial space.

It’s unclear last weekend’s attempted arson is connected to Thursday’s arson next door.