ST. PAUL - After being called out to two fires near Highway 881, north of St. Paul on May 20, fire crews were once again called out to a fire at one of the same locations on Wednesday morning.
At 5 a.m., on May 21, "the same structure was lit again on fire," confirmed Fire Chief Trevor Kotowich. "The property was checked yesterday with a thermal imaging camera at 3 p.m. to ensure no hot-spots existed. Because the property had no power or gas utility to it, the only other logical cause was it intentionally being lit again," he noted.
Background
St. Paul firefighters were called out to a vehicle fire in the early morning hours of May 20 in the County of St. Paul, and about half an hour later received a report of a structure fire in the same area.
According to information from the St. Paul Fire Department, the first call came in at 4:41 a.m. on Tuesday morning. The vehicle fire was located north of Township Road 591 and Highway 881.
An abandoned Dodge pick-up truck was found off the road fully involved in fire, according to information from the fire department.
"While dealing with the first scene, at approximately 5:17 a.m., a passer-by notified firefighters of a potential structure fire a half-mile south of the original call. A crew left the first scene to investigate, where they discovered a mobile home trailer fully involved in fire," according to the fire department.
A total of 15 firefighters responded to both fires, with mutual-aid requested for a water tanker from Mallaig Fire Department.
"An initial cause and origin investigation has deemed these fires as both intentionally set, and any information regarding these incidents should be forwarded to the St. Paul RCMP Detachment at 780-645-8870."
