800 block of 13th St. W. (Nigel Maxwell/ paNOW Staff)

By Nigel Maxwell

Suspicious Fires

Coincidence or fire bug?

May 20, 2020 | 5:00 PM

Within the past three days, the Prince Albert fire department has responded to three separate structure fires in the city’s west flat neighbourhood, all within a five block radius, and all have been deemed suspicious.

Two of the fires involved detached garages in the 900 block. of 15th St. W. and 800 block. of 13th St. W. A single story abandoned house was also set ablaze Monday in the 900 block of 18th St. W.

The city’s most recent garage fire in the 900 blk. of 15th. St. W. (Nigel Maxwell/ paNOW Staff)

Deputy Fire Chief Alex Paul told paNOW at this stage of their investigation the only known connection is the fires happened in the same geographical area.

“The investigations are ongoing in terms of cause and the police have been involved in it in terms of seeing if they can find some common denominators between the fires,” he said.

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This house in the 900 blk. of 18th. St. W. was set ablaze on Monday, and happens to be rigth beside another previously scorched dwelling. (Nigel Maxwell/ paNOW Staff)

In addition to the above mentioned structure fires, there was also at least one garbage bin fire which coincidentally happened less than 15 minutes after the garage fire Tuesday morning on 15th St. W. Paul encouraged residents to remain vigilant.

“Two of these fires did occur in garages that maybe weren’t secured at the time so keep an eye on your property and watch out for your neighbour’s property,” he said.

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nigel.maxwell@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @nigelmaxwell