The cause of a recent fire near Eden Mills is unknown and according to officials it may never be discovered.
On Nov. 18 the Guelph-Eramosa Fire Department was contacted about an extinguished fire that completely destroyed an abandoned cabin near Eden Mills close to Wellington Road 29 and Barden Street sometime between Nov. 15 and 17.
“The property owner was there earlier in the week and then came back to find that the cabin had burned down and then called us because of the fires that have been going on lately,” said Guelph-Eramosa deputy fire chief Jim Petrik.
However, Petrik couldn’t say whether this most recent fire, which caused about $75,000 in damage, was connected to the other three unoccupied building fires in the area that took place within the last six weeks:
– Oct. 28 in an unoccupied home on Arkell Road near Nassagaweya-Puslinch Townline in Puslinch;
– Oct. 19 on the Third Line in Guelph-Eramosa; and
– Oct. 14 also on the Third Line in Guelph-Eramosa.
“It was impossible to determine the cause of the fire … because the entire structure was completely consumed,” he said.
However, authorities are taking the unprecedented number of these types of fires seriously, he said.
On Nov. 21 Petrik met with the OPP, representatives from the Office of the Ontario Fire Marshall and Puslinch Fire Chief Steve Goode.
“We met to discuss some of these recent events and try and get a handle on what’s been going on and figuring out strategies going forward on how we can try and figure out who might be behind this or what might be going on,” he explained.
He said it’s important for the public to stay vigilant especially around unoccupied homes or abandoned structures.
“If [you] see suspicious activity in the areas of these types of structures … call police,” he said.
However, sometimes structures are not easily visible from the road. In the case of the Eden Mills fire the structure was located about 1km away from the road and was in a remote area of the property, Petrik explained.
“Make sure that any buildings that people aren’t currently using are secured and it will reduce the risk of people getting access to them and doing this type of activity in them,” Petrik said.
Any person with information regarding any of these incidents should 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 online at www.csgw.tips, the tip provider may be eligible for a reward from Crime Stoppers of up to $2,000.
