Police believe a fire that destroyed a Cape Breton service centre and threatened nearby homes earlier this week was deliberately set.
Clifton Bailey has been the owner of Bailey’s Service Centre in Dominion, N.S., for nearly 40 years. Bailey says he’s devastated someone would intentionally burn down his place of business.
"I knew it was arson because there was nothing in the garage that could go on fire, nothing. There’s nothing there. There’s no oily rags, there's no gas," he says.
The fire burned the garage to the ground early Wednesday morning. More than 30 firefighters from three different departments responded to the scene and it took three hours for the fire to be extinguished.
All that remains of the scene is an empty lot as the final walls of the family business were torn down on Friday.
"The fire marshal and ident officers were on scene and have deemed the fire suspicious, looking like an arson. So it's been referred to police for investigation,” says Desiree Vassallo of the Cape Breton Regional Police. “We are investigating at this point under the lead of our arson investigator."
Residents tell CTV News they heard several loud bangs shortly after 4 a.m. that night and some homes had to be evacuated due to the intense heat coming from the building.
"They never even thought of the fella next door. That was intense heat. Everybody around there got panicky. The guy next door, both of them, what if they lost their houses? They’re not even thinking straight, what they're doing there,” says Bailey.
Bailey says he hopes video surveillance can be salvaged from the wreckage to help pinpoint the person or persons responsible as he had cameras set up around the building.
"There's not a lot of evidence. Mostly, it's burned down. We do rely a lot on witness information and any tips from the public,” says Vassallo.
Officers say cases of arson are often hard to solve and they’re urging witnesses or anyone with information on the incident to contact police or Crime Stoppers.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Ryan MacDonald.
