Distraught man sets fire on roof of grocery store

CAMPBELLFORD - A distraught man set fire to his personal belongings on the rooftop of a Campbellford grocery store Monday night and threatened to jump from the roof before police talked him out of it.

Northumberland County OPP officers were called to Sharpe’s Food Market at around 7:15 p.m. Monday after the 39-year-old Trent Hills man brought his personal belongings onto the roof in a backpack and then set fire to them.

Sharpe’s Food Market was then evacuated as a precaution.

OPP officers went up onto the roof to where the man was, Const. Steve Bates stated.

Officers negotiated with him to get him to move to another area of the roof so that Trent Hills firefighters could put out the fire, Bates stated.

The flames from the blaze reached a metre tall, Bates stated.

A crisis negotiator from the OPP’s emergency response program was called to the scene and joined the officers on the roof who kept talking with the man, Bates stated.

After 1 1/2 hours, the man was removed from the rooftop without injuries using a fire truck bucket, Bates stated.

Paramedics then took him to hospital for assessment and treatment, Bates stated.

The fire didn’t cause any damage to the store’s rooftop and no one was hurt, Bates stated.