London Fire Dept. investigates barn fires

Sep 04, 2018

Two barns burned in the community last week

By Diego Flammini
Staff Writer
Farms.com

Local authorities are investigating after two vacant barns burned in London, Ont. last week.

The London Fire Department and London Police are looking into the causes of the blazes, which occurred around 7:15 p.m. Tuesday night near Sunningdale Road and Highbury Ave. The Ontario Fire Marshal is also involved with the investigation.

Plumes of smoke could be seen in nearby communities, which helped the firefighters locate the burning structures.

“The barns were located off of a trail near the end of the property, which made it challenging for us to find,” Jack Burt, acting deputy chief with the London Fire Department, told Farms.com today. “But we were able to follow the large clouds of smoke to find the barns.”

Another barn on the property remained standing.

The firefighters discovered evidence which gave them reason to treat the fires as suspicious.

@London_Traffic Avoid Sunningdale between Adelaide and Highbury. Big fire! pic.twitter.com/FT6VYEa8Cs
— sorrysorrysorryeh (@Cdnsorry) August 28, 2018

“There was no power to these barns,” Burt said. “Power had been cut off for quite a while and the house next door had been rented out as an Airbnb that was known for student parties. There was evidence in one barn of possible drug activity and possible squatters.

“The other barn had very old hay in it, and the owner of this property has had five suspicious fires in the last five years.”

Damage to the barns is estimated at $300,000.

No animals or people were injured during the fires.

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