An investigator from the Ontario FIre Marshall’s office surveys fire damage at Blue Lagoon II
on Oxford Street East in London on Sunday January 8th, 2012. (CRAIG GLOVER, The London Free Press)
Arsons in London have increased 37% this year, fuelled by a turf war between bikers and street gangs and firebugs targeting a vacant store and vehicles.
A London police spokesperson said the spike is taxing investigators but police don’t believe the increase in deliberately set fires is the start of a trend.
As of Nov. 30, London police investigated 114 arsons, compared with 83 for the first 11 months of 2011.
Police say much of that increase can be attributed to at least three suspects believed to have set numerous fires in the spring and summer when firefighters and police raced from one blaze to another.
A 65-year-old man was busted for at least five fires that left more than $200,000 worth of damage in their ashes.
Two of the fires he’s accused of sparking were at the former Tepperman’s furniture building on Wharncliffe Rd. S.
Another two fires were set on the loading dock of the No Frills grocery store on Baseline Rd. E.
All four fires were set in April.
Another spate of arsons threatened more than just structures when someone set at least six vehicles on fire in the city’s east end in January and February.
The vehicles were usually parked in driveways, and the intensity of the flames sent adults and children scurrying into the street in bare feet and pyjamas.
Four of the fires, two each on Whitney St. and Edgeworth Ave., occurred in the darkness of the early morning of Jan. 29.
Just weeks before, fires erupted at massage parlours Blue Lagoon 2 and Virginia’s and strip club Famous Flesh Gordon’s, as London street gangs and traditional biker gangs waged a short-lived turf war.
Police also arrested a 71-year-old woman accused of setting the garage of a house in Lambeth on fire — the same house that had been targeted at least four times before.
Const. Ken Steeves, a London police spokesperson, said the increase in arsons has forced the force to beef up the unit that investigates them.
“The (arson) unit within the general investigations section has had a busy year, but there’s no indication that the arsons that occurred in 2012 are a trend,” he said.
“Extra resources are deployed from other units and sections within the department as required, based on the needs of each investigation.”
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FANNING THE FLAMES
Causes of structure fires in Ontario
Cooking: 17%
Arson/vandalism: 11%
Heating/cooling: 9%
Electrical distribution equipment – wiring: 9%
Miscellaneous (includes exposure fires, natural causes, chemical reactions): 10%
Cigarettes: 7%
Appliances: 4%
Open flame tools (excluding matches, lighters): 4%
Candles: 2%
lighting (excluding candles): 2%
Matches or lighters (excluding arson fires): 1%
Processing equipment: 1%
Undetermined: 20%
(Source: Ontario Fire Marshal’s Office)
