Fire completely consumes garage damaged in previous blaze
Swift Current Fire Department is assisting the Swift Current RCMP in determining the cause of a series of suspicious fires in Swift Current.
Fire crews were again called to extinguish a fire at a problematic area along Robert Street this past Sunday, a location where six separate fires have been extinguished over the past few weeks.
The latest fire broke out during the early morning hours of Sunday, with the fire completely destroying a garage and storage area behind a set of apartments at 550 Robert St. E. Crews were hampered by -25 Celsius conditions while battling the fire.
The garage was previously heavily damaged back on January 23 when half of the garage structure was consumed by fire and at least two vehicles were lost in the initial blaze.
A rash of fires began in that area back on January 14 when the Swift Current Fire Department was called to extinguish a fire in a vacant suite at 560 Robert St., along with a waste disposal fire behind 520 Robert St.
Swift Current Fire Chief Denis Pilon said the investigations have been turned over to the RCMP but they are working with the police to determine the cause of the suspicious fires.
Chief Pilon was unable to comment on many of the specifics of their findings as it is currently an active investigation.
He did voice his con- cerns with the ongoing nature of the fires, and difficulties it is creating for the department personnel.
"It's what we do, but it's happening early in the morning. It's bringing all of our off-duty people back to work in the middle of the night, and our auxiliary firefighters. That part is a little bit difficult, especially for the auxiliary firefighters, they've got other jobs they go to during the day so it makes it hard on them," Chief Pilon said.
The fires are a concerning trend, which have so far been limited to just property damage. However, he is concerned that the scale of the damage could escalate.
"Property can be replaced. It's insurable. But we're concerned about the apartments and the nature of the fires that have started in the apartments where we could have some issues with people getting hurt."
He is asking people in the impacted area to be vigilant.
"The only thing we can ask is if somebody sees something suspicious around the apartments to call the RCMP."