Two teens aged 14 and 15 and a 19-year-old woman are facing arson charges in connection with several fires in Strathroy, Ont., early Thursday morning, including one that damaged the playground of a local school, Strathroy-Caradoc police said.
Police were first called to the scene on Oak Avenue for a report of several youths starting a hydro pole on fire along the street, officials said. Not long after, another call indicated an active fire in the garden of an Oak Avenue home, police said.
“Officers attended the area and found another fire on the playground equipment and fire damage at two other locations on the property of St. Vincent De Paul Catholic School,” police said in a statement.
Police took a 15-year-old girl near the school property into custody, while officers responding to the scene located and arrested a 19-year-old woman who was observed running from the scene along Oak Avenue, police said.
A 14-year-old boy was later identified as part of the investigation and subsequently arrested, police said.
All three face four counts of arson causing damage to property, police said.