The Saskatoon Fire Department extinguished the flames of a fire at a boarded-up house in Saskatoon’s Pleasant Hill neighbourhood on Sunday afternoon.
A dozen firefighters and two trucks were called to the 300 block of Avenue Q South just after 2 p.m.
Fire Battalion Chief Bill Riley told Global News the fire was “definitely suspicious,” citing the fact that the house was vacant and that the power and gas were not connected.
There have been more than 30 suspicious fires in Saskatoon in recent weeks.
According to a statement, it took firefighters less than four minutes to arrive at the house, though Riley said the structure was already engulfed in flames.
When the fire department arrived a bystander told Riley they saw someone in the house earlier in the day.
Firefighters began to search the house but determined no one was inside.
No one was injured.
Riley put the cost of the damage at $50,000 and said the house would need to be demolished.
He said an investigation is underway.