‘Targets of opportunity’ torched

Saskatoon has had 45 arsons since January, fire department reports

An assistant chief of the Saskatoon fire department says boarded-up vacant homes, garages and garbage bins have been damaged by arson over the last several months because they’re targets of opportunity.

Since January, investigators have ruled 45 fires in the city to have been incendiary in nature. Between Jan. 1 and the end of April, city police had received 50 arson complaints, including 10 in April.

By the same time last year, police had received 16 reports of arson, according to the month-end crime statistics for April.

When police complete their investigations it may take some time to recode incidents in the police data system, which could account for the discrepancy.

Assistant fire chief Yvonne Raymer said investigators consider all of the possible reasons why a fire could have started, then start eliminating causes.

If the cause could not be accidental, investigators then start looking towards the intentional, she said.

When there’s evidence indicating a fire could have been intentionally started, that’s when it’s determined to be “incendiary.”

Fire investigators determine the cause and origin of a fire, while police look into the intent.

“If the police can get a win and find out who it is and make that arrest, then definitely the numbers will start to plateau a little bit,” Raymer said.

On Thursday, the fire department reported that seven recent fires were deemed “incendiary” by investigators:

■ On May 23, a shed fire in the 100 block of Avenue S South caused an estimated $5,000 in damage.

■ On the same date, a blaze at a boarded-up vacant house in the 1900 block of 22nd Street West caused an estimated $5,000 in damage.

■ Another fire on that date, in the 300 block of Avenue S South, caused an estimated $25,000 in damage. An occupant of the house had to be removed, but no one was hurt.

■ On May 21, an estimated $30,000 in damage was caused to a house in the 400 block of Avenue V South. No one was injured.

Also on May 21, a garage fire in

■ the 100 block of Avenue K South caused an estimated $10,000 in damage.

■ On May 20, a boarded-up vacant residential property was destroyed in the 1600 block of Avenue C North. The damage was estimated at $300,000. The house is subject to a demolition order.

■ On May 15, a deck fire at a previously damaged boarded-up home in the 400 block of Avenue S South caused an estimated $1,000 in damage.

Opportunity and privacy are the main reasons vacant houses, sheds and waste bins are targeted, Raymer said. That’s one of the reasons the fire department asks people to keep their bins in secure areas, away from any structures, to reduce the opportunity.

She urges owners of boarded-up, vacant houses to come up with a plan for their properties before they become targets.

The fire department began to notice an increase in fires involving boarded-up buildings last fall. Investigators looked at 117 complaints about boarded-up structures and identified 47 vacant houses; 29 of them had been fire scenes. Some have now been demolished, while others are the subject of enforcement actions.

Fires appear to become more common each year in the spring, or when the weather warms up, city police said in an emailed statement.

Police said they believe the fires they’re investigating are not connected and were set by different people. They don’t believe the fires were set with the intent to harm anyone, they added.

Police ... believe the fires they’re investigating are not connected to each other and were set by different people.