Three suspicious fires in Guelph-Eramosa and Erin kept firefighters busy the morning of July 20.
The three blazes, located within 10 kilometers of each other, are being treated as suspicious.
Two of the fires were at abandoned buildings.
Firefighters from Erin and Hillsburgh stations were called to a barn fire on Sideroad 27 in Erin at around 5:40am on Thursday.
Hay and tractors were stored inside the barn and it did have services connected to it, explained Wellington County OPP spokesperson Josh Cunningham.
Moments later, Rockwood firefighters, with the assistance of Centre Wellington’s Fergus station, tackled a blaze at a vacant house and barn on Sideroad 15 in Guelph-Eramosa.
Then, at around 6:50am, Fergus, Rockwood and Puslinch firefighters were called to a vacant farm shed fire on the 3rd Line in Guelph-Eramosa.
“They are all being treated as suspicious. The Fire Marshal has been notified on all three,” said Cunningham.
Guelph-Eramosa Fire Chief John Osborne said firefighters were able to put out the fires quickly once arriving at the scene.
“The barn and the house were both saved, crews got there in a very quick time where they were able to knock the fires down before they spread,” Osborne said.
The third fire was at the same property as an abandoned structure fire on Oct. 19, 2016.
“We are working with the police diligently to try and piece all of these together,” said Osborne.
“I’m very concerned that not only that these fires are being lit in abandoned buildings, but we’re putting the public at risk having fire trucks, police cars and paramedics running all over the place with lights and sirens to an arsonist that is deliberately setting these fires.
“The sooner we can come to a successful completion of this, the better.”
Cunningham said police are asking the public for assistance.
“We’re asking people to look back at their own surveillance cameras, look at their own dash cams, look at their own hunting cameras … for suspicious activity or suspicious vehicles or suspicious people and bring that to us and … see if we can’t find some information from those pieces,” said Cunningham.
“We’re hoping that the public remains vigilant. Remote and uninhabited homes are much more vulnerable to vandalism and mischiefs and for people to just secure their properties and survey them.”
Police are asking anyone with information about the fires to contact the Wellington County OPP at 1-888-310-1122.
To remain anonymous, call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS) or submit a tip on-line at www.csgw.tips. Tip providers may be eligible for a reward from Crime Stoppers of up to $2,000.
To see a list of suspicious fires in the county since September, including those listed in the multi-jurisdictional investigation, see the map below. Click on the fire icons for a link to the original articles.
