Photo by Mike Maloney/London Community News
Fire officials call the blaze that damaged this Iroquois Avenue home suspicious.
Police and fire investigators are looking into the causes of a pair of suspicious fires set within 20 minutes of each other.
Just after 2:30 a.m. on Thursday (Dec. 8), John Haddow woke up to a neighbour knocking on his door to tell him his ‘93 Ford Tempo was engulfed in flames in the driveway of his Murry Street home.
“(My neighbour) said, ‘I think we got a problem’,” Haddow recounted about his wake-up call. “I looked out and said, ‘I think we got a big problem’.”
Fire crews had already been called and it wasn’t long before they arrived on scene, he added.
“They came in two minutes, but it felt like two hours.”
The flames were so high, the branches of a nearby tree – sitting about 10 feet off the ground – were singed.
Haddow’s truck, parked in front of the torched car, was also damaged. The estimated damage to both vehicles is about $15,000.
Haddow has lived in the Old South neighbourhood for over 60 years and said he has never seen anything like this, but recognizes the fire could have been a lot worse.
“This could have been big,” he said. “I could have been killed, my wife could have (been killed) and the house could have burned down. There’s so much wood around the area. I got gas, (my neighbour) has gas, anything could have happened.”
The growing crime in the area, combined the fires last night, is causing residents to be concerned about their safety.
“We’ve had break-ins. Our cars have been broken into because it’s an old neighbourhood and our cars don’t fit in our garage, but this is horrific,” said the resident who didn’t want her name used. “It’s certainly unnerving. You sleep with one ear open.”
While firefighters were still battling the car fire on Murray Street, another incident had been called in just blocks away, around 2:50 a.m..
Heavy smoke and flames could be seen coming from a shed attached to a house located at 115 Iroquois Ave.
Firefighters put out the blaze before it spread, but the home suffered extensive smoke damage. Total damage to the shed and house are estimated at $27,000.
“The fire itself wasn’t really that big, but the number of fire trucks here was amazing,” said neighbour Ken Curtis. “There must have been like 10 (fire trucks) out here, three or four police cars, and that’s very comforting to know that if you do have a problem, they instantly arrive.”
Curtis also talked about the break-ins around the Old South area, but said the senselessness of starting a fire makes this crime a lot more disappointing.
“There’s no reason for it. People could die in these kind of fires and that stops being funny,” he said. “If you lose a skill saw, well OK. Lose a child and that’s quite different. You have to really wonder about the mentality of people who would do that kind of thing, especially at 2 or 3 a.m. when they have to know people are asleep and defenceless.”
Both fires are currently under investigation by police and fire departments. Currently, the incidents are being looked at as separate crimes but police are investigating to see if there is a connection between both fires.
“It appears suspicious, you don’t usually have vehicle fires, especially that close to other fires and that close in time,” London Deputy Fire Chief Dan Aldridge said.
By Jonathon Brodie/London Community News
