Halloween fires threaten adjacent properties

Tyne Valley firefighters log long night

A Halloween fire at an abandoned apartment building in Mount Pleasant had potential to destroy a broad swath of woodland, Tyne Valley fire Chief William Bishop reported Wednesday.

Bishop said embers from the building fire had already blown across Highway 2 and caught into the woods before firefighters arrived on the scene.

“It got about 100 feet into (the woods). We were able to put it out, but we were chasing. With that wind last night, it could’ve been bad. It could’ve been really bad,” Bishop emphasized.

With trees running right through to Tyne Valley, he said there was great potential for the structure fire becoming a major forest fire.

“We haven’t had much water all summer, and the forest is really dry. You start fooling around with that stuff…” he said without finishing his thought about the suspected Halloween mischief fire.

Prince District RCMP are investigating the Mount Pleasant fire, which was reported at 3:10 a.m., as well as fires at a vacant cottage in Southwest Lot 16, called in at 8 p.m. On Tuesday, a camper trailer fire in Richmond was reported at 9:50 p.m., and a call about a fire at an abandoned house in Deblois was received at 2:20 a.m. Wednesday.

All of the structures were destroyed.

Sgt. Darrell Gill said the four fire calls were Prince District’s major incidents in what otherwise was a fairly quiet Halloween.

“It was one of the better ones we’ve had in recent years in terms of call volume,” he said.

Besides the risk the fire posed to the nearby forest, Bishop said the camper fire endangered a nearby residence. Firefighters hosed down the camper, which was parked between a residence and an apartment building, to keep it from catching fire.

Bishop said his department was also called to four tire fires, including two that were lit while they were fighting the structure and forest fire. He had already called in the Lennox Island Fire Department to assist in Mount Pleasant and diverted them while en route to put out a tire fire on McNeills Mills Road and then sent them to another in Northam. The Lennox Island firefighters subsequently joined the Tyne Valley firefighters in Mount Pleasant.

Bishop said firefighters were planning to be stationed at their fire hall until midnight but got called out to their first tire fire prior to 11 p.m. and then they remained busy throughout the night. They didn’t get clear from the Mount Pleasant fire until 6 a.m.

A fire at an abandoned house near École Pierre-Chiasson school in DeBlois also had potential of spreading into nearby woods, Tignish fire Chief Allan Gavin reported. Firefighters responded to the call around 2:20 a.m. Wednesday and cleared the scene three hours later.

“If the wind was the wrong way – and it was dry – it could’ve been a big problem,” he said.

“It was peaceful early,” he said, noting they attended to a small brushfire prior to the DeBlois fire.

Tignish had attended a fire at an abandoned house in Nail Pond, on the same property where they fought a fire at an abandoned barn fire about a month previous.

Alberton Fire Department had one Halloween call, to put out a rubbish fire at the end of the Butcher Road in Elmsdale around 11 p.m.

Gill said police also had to contend with youth in Alberton pelting police cars with eggs and rocks.

Summerside Fire Services and O’Leary Fire Department had no calls.