Moncton firefighters were kept busy by a spate of fires on Thursday that looked suspicious.
The first call came in around 4:15 in the afternoon, said Platoon Chief Brian Gaudet.
“We responded to a baby barn fire on Echo Drive,” said Gaudet. “That was the first one of several.”
While on scene, crews received a second call, this time to a brush fire in the area of Ocean Limited Way, then another near Vaughan-Harvey and St. George, and then a fourth call to Pacific Avenue.
“They didn't give us a lot of concern for reasons of size,” Gaudet said. “But for frequency, we were concerned that there was something else going on.”
The fire on Pacific Avenue happened in the backyard of Ashley Maltais.
“I think I was just watching TV and my husband came in and said there was a fire,” said Maltais. “I just assumed it was the neighbour’s bonfire but he was like ‘no, there's really a fire.’ so we came out and it was basically just up in a blaze.”
It was a tent that was on fire. It was a makeshift shelter, with a shopping cart and clothes. The home owners had no idea someone had been living there.
“We made sure the door was locked last night,” said Maltais.
With so many fires in such a short time, it's left residents wondering what was at play here.
“It seemed a bit weird for someone to torch someone's living quarters,” said Maltais.
RCMP declined an on-camera interview Friday, but they did say these fires are considered suspicious, and that they believe arson may have been involved.
But, until anything is confirmed, Gaudet had this to say: “What we know is that we don't have frequency like this normally, especially in the same area. So, when we do have an occurrence like this, it gives us some suspicion that something nefarious is going on.”
All fires were extinguished in just under two hours with the firefighters work wrapped up by six o'clock. All the work, that is, except getting some answers to some questions about how they started.
With files from CTV Atlantic’s Kate Walker.
