A fire at an abandoned house on the border of Clearview Township and Collingwood is considered to be suspicious and is under investigation.
Clearview Township Fire Chief Colin Shewell said the OPP and the Office of the Ontario Fire Marshal deemed the fire suspicious, prompting an investigation.
Fire crews from Clearview and Collingwood were called to the Sixth Street home, located between 10th Concession and Grey County Road 19, at about 8:30 p.m. July 2.
Shewell said crews had left the scene at about 11:30 p.m. but when police were securing the scene small fires began to burn again so firefighters were called back to the fire and stayed to control those hotspots.
Most firefighters were on site for about 12 hours with some staying longer to assist with the investigation. They used 75,000 to 100,000 gallons of water to extinguish the fire.
“It was an old house and it had sawdust insulation and newspaper and a number of additions so the fire was hard to fight. We did it through an offensive attack. We didn’t want to injure any firefighters so it was all done from the outside which is why it probably took more water than normal,” said Shewell.
“Because it was an abandoned building, we didn’t feel it was necessary to jeopardize the safety of our firefighters.”
The house had been scheduled for demolition about two weeks from the time of the blaze but it was demolished the day after the fire at the request of the fire chief for safety reasons.
Anyone with any information about the cause of the fire is asked to call Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS. Tips can also be submitted online at www.crimestopperssdm.com.