Arson fires at John XXIII school and in Gillies Grove have Arnprior fire chief John Okum alarmed.
He said both fires were quickly extinguished, but had the potential to be serious. The OPP have been called in to investigate both blazes, he said.
Okum said the Arnprior Fire Department was called to John XXIII at 5:11 a.m. July 27 to attend to a fire in a dumpster. When firefighters checked the rest of the property, they found another fire in a plastic garbage pail on the other side of the school.
Anyone seeing anything suspicious in the area of the school early Tuesday morning is asked to call Arnprior OPP.
With the fires breaking out in two places, it was obviously not accidental, Okum said. The fire in the pail had been set a short time prior to the fire department’s arrival, he noted.
That fire was close to the school, so could have endangered the building, he said.
The dumpster was far enough from the school to not be a threat.
However, “any fire is dangerous,” said Okum, explaining firefighters have to be careful when approaching dumpster fires. There could be items such as aerosol cans in the garbage that could explode, he said.
There are also environmental issues when garbage is burned, he added.
“Lighting those fires is a Criminal Code offense,” he stressed. “It’s a serious issue.”
Okum said residents in the area have a right to be concerned when someone sets fires in their neighbourhood.
While it’s the first dumpster fire in Arnprior for some time, it’s caught the attention of emergency officials. “With the Grove (fire) and now this one, it’s starting to be a concern for the fire department,” Okum said.
GROVE FIRE
The McNab-Braeside Fire Department and the OPP were called about 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, July 18 when Gillies House residents Alex Winter and Ron MacIntyre reported seeing two young males setting a fire in the area of Grove near their property.
As the fire was close to the boundary of McNab-Braeside and Arnprior, the town fire department was also called. By the time firefighters arrived, the fire had been put out by passers-by and OPP officers.
It was the second fire in the Grove in the past couple of months.
Anyone with information that might help identify the two suspects is asked to call Arnprior OPP.
APARTMENT ALARMS
Arnprior firefighters entered an Arnprior apartment in the afternoon of July 25 to investigate a smell of smoke.
It was the second such call in two weeks.
Doug Miller of Citadel Crafts called the fire department about 2:30 p.m. after smelling smoke from the upstairs apartment and being unable to find anyone home.
Firefighters used a ladder to enter the second-floor John Street apartment through a window and found a burned pizza in the sink. The smell had circulated throughout the complex through the air conditioning system.
A call to an apartment a block away on July 10 was more serious.
A ringing smoke alarm prompted neighbours to call the fire department. When they entered the second floor apartment through a window they found a smoking pot on the stove about to break out into a full-fledged fire.
Fire chief John Okum said the apartment’s occupant was sound asleep, oblivious to the danger. The man could have succumbed to the smoke if the fire department wasn’t called, he said.
Okum notes the incident proves the worth of smoke alarms and advises people to call the fire department if they hear an alarm or smell smoke.