A pickup truck, one minivan and two schools were set alight during a string of suspicious fires in a southeast community Saturday morning, mirroring a similar spree that hit many of the same targets one year ago.
Investigators are looking at a link between the suspected arsons, duty inspector Paul Stacey said.
"The odds of this being coincidental are very small," he added.
The culprits for last year’s burning spree were never caught, Stacey said.
This year’s blazes began at 2 a.m. when the Calgary Fire Department was called to the Fish Creek School to find two broken windows and a flaming classroom. About $40,000 worth of damage was done, the department said. A few minutes later, a container fire was reported at the Midsun Junior High School on Sunmills Drive.
Within the hour yet another fire was called in; a pickup truck was set alight near the 200 block of Sunrise Circle. The vehicle is, according to a statement by the department, "a total writeoff." Then, on the same street, a minivan was found filled with flames, damaging two other nearby cars.
Brian McAsey, spokesman for the fire department, said crews are investigating. The fires are "considered suspicious."
Gabriel Romeo, who has lived in the community of Sundance for a decade, was asleep when a firebug inflamed his vehicle.
"They destroyed the van, this much I know," he said. He hopes insurance can cover the cost. Romeo doesn’t believe he was targeted.
"The police said it was random. It had nothing to do with us," he said.
"It’s scary because it could have been closer to the house, which would have been bad."
Calgary Herald
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