A pair of weekend grass fires in Colwood have been deemed suspicious.
The first, called in just after midnight on Saturday morning, burned an area of around 150 feet by 130 feet next to a pedestrian path near Perimeter Place.
“It was fortunate that wind conditions were very calm at that time in the morning. If there was an onshore breeze it would have taken off a little more,” said Fire Chief John Cassidy.
The slow-moving fire had multiple burning points, leading to its suspicious classification. The closest residence to the fire was roughly 40 feet away and was unharmed. Three trucks and 16 crew members were able to subdue the fire quickly upon arrival.
A second fire was discovered near Allandale Road and Veterans Memorial Parkway later that morning at around 9:25 a.m. A 50 feet by 15 feet area was burned and that fire was deemed suspicious because some personal effects were smoldering for an unknown period of time prior to the fire’s discovery.
Two fires in garbage containers last week, one outside Red Barn Market and another near Royal Bay secondary, are still being investigated. Cassidy said that it’s hard to call either of those fires suspicious because the origin could have easily been a discarded cigarette butt.
