Article content

Four vacant houses. At least six barns or storage sheds. All burned to the ground within two months under what police in Norfolk County are calling “suspicious” circumstances.

No one has been hurt, but the reported property damage is nearly $1.5 million.

The string of unexplained fires has residents worried an arsonist is on the loose.

“Most people that I see are just frightened. They just find it really unsettling,” said Brad Mottashed of Simcoe, who created the website norfolkarsontracker.com to keep the public informed about the fires.

Article content

On Monday, Ontario Provincial Police asked for the public’s help solving seven separate “suspicious” fires over the last two months that they say are “of particular note”:

• Nov. 12, 10:38 p.m., Windham East Quarter Line, Simcoe
• Nov. 13, 1:03 a.m., Windham Road 13, Simcoe
• Nov. 26, 10:19 p.m., Fourteenth Street West, Simcoe
• Nov. 27, 12:03 a.m., 10th Concession Road, Langton
• Dec. 11, 4:09 a.m., Highway 24 near Concession 11, Townsend
• Dec. 19, 11:40 p.m., Concession 10 Townsend, Waterford
• Dec. 27, 12:33 a.m., St. John’s Road West, Simcoe

Police say the “affected structures” are homes, greenhouses, barns and other outbuildings. There have been no injuries reported in any of the blazes, police said.

Norfolk County OPP is “actively investigating” the fires, police said, and asking for the public’s help. Anyone with information is asked to call police at 1-888-310-1122. Residents living near any of those properties are asked to check their own surveillance footage for anything that may help police.

In an interview before Monday’s police announcement, Norfolk County Fire Chief Gord Stilwell said the rash of suspicious fires has his department concerned.

Article content

“Any time we suspect somebody’s intentionally starting buildings on fire, we want to be diligent to that,” Stilwell told The Hamilton Spectator in a phone interview.

But the chief cautioned residents not to jump to conclusions about foul play, saying arson “is not a common theme that we see” and there are other reasons fires can start.

“The public’s assuming all the fires are arson, and that’s unfortunate,” Stilwell said, noting unoccupied buildings “lend themselves to activities like trespassing and vandalism.”

Flames often devour so much of a structure that there is little evidence left to sift through, the chief explained.

Mottashed said his goal with the online tracker is not to give an alleged arsonist any notoriety, but to help stop the fires by inspiring tips that could lead to an arrest.

“Nothing would make me happier than to not have to post on this website anymore because he’s caught,” he said. “It’s really concerning to have somebody running around lighting fires like this.”

-With files from The London Free Press

J.P. Antonacci is a Local Journalism Initiative Reporter based at the Hamilton Spectator. The initiative is funded by the Government of Canada

Share this article in your social network