On July 20 Guelph-Eramosa and Erin were hit with a string of suspicious fires.
The four blazes bring the suspicious fire total in Wellington County and the surrounding area to more than 32 since September.
Some of the fires are under investigation by a multi-jurisdictional team of police and fire officials.
Last Thursday morning began with three suspicious fires within 10 kilometers of each other.
Firefighters from Erin and Hillsburgh stations were called to a barn fire on Sideroad 27 in Erin at around 5:40am.
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 … 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,” 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.”
Fourth fire
Later on July 20, as evening was setting in, yet another suspicious fire was discovered around 8pm – this one in the middle of Rockwood.
That brought the total number of suspicious blazes to four in one day.
“We got called to a structure fire just on Main Street and responded, found that it was kind of like a pool shed structure so it’s detached from the residence and it was fully engulfed when we arrived,” said Guelph-Eramosa deputy fire chief Jim Petrik on July 21.
“And we were able to extinguish it relatively quickly and there was no extension to any other buildings.”
Petrik said it isn’t clear at this time whether the detached shed was in use.
An OPP press release states, “A witness reports seeing two males break into the gate at the property and approximately 20 minutes later the witness observed flames and called the fire department.”
Though it is being treated as suspicious, the fire is not necessarily connected to the other suspicious fires in the area over the past year.
“They’re just trying to determine whether there might be a connection,” Petrik said. “It’s not assumed that there is at this point but … as a precaution and in light of all the other events yesterday, they’re just looking at it as part of the investigation.”
OPP officials say the property was “returned to the custody of the home owner” on July 21 and the next morning, someone “trespassed onto the property and caused damage.”
Police announced they were trying to identify two teenagers caught on a surveillance camera trespassing on the property on July 22 but later announced the individuals are not suspects.
Police are asking anyone who may have seen anyone suspicious in the area or has information about any of the fires to call Wellington County OPP at 1-888-310-1122.
To remain anonymous, call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS) or submit a tip online at www.csgw.tips. Tip providers may be eligible for a reward from Crime Stoppers of up to $2,000.
For an interactive map of suspicious fires in the county since September, visit wellingtonadvertiser.com.
