Five fires have been started in Sherwood Park, Alta., since Saturday, most of them dumpster or garbage fires in the south of the hamlet, and police suspect arson.
A fire in some trees near St. Nicholas Catholic School was reported to the RCMP at around 2 p.m. Friday. Strathcona County emergency services put out the fire and there was no property damage.
On Saturday at 10 p.m., emergency services responded and extinguished a dumpster fire at a strip mall on Brentwood Boulevard and Sherwood Drive.
Then on Sunday, three fires were reported to RCMP by Strathcona County emergency services. The fires were behind strip malls on Wye Road and involved a dumpster, garbage and bundled cardboard. The fires were put out but there was minor damage to structures in the area.
RCMP said they are investigating these fires as arsons and ask anyone in the area to check surveillance footage around the times of the fires and report anything suspicious to police.
RCMP public information officer Troy Savinkoff told Global News on Tuesday that amid current weather conditions, the fire near the school “could have led to a larger fire.”
“With the current state of affairs in the province, certainly fires are at the forefront of our attention and it’s very obvious the danger that it causes to the residents of the community when they’re being set,” he said, referring broadly to the number of wildfires burning in the province.
Savinkoff said RCMP investigators are looking into “the possibility that some of these fires are tied together.”
“But we’re still early in the investigation and certainly that has yet to be determined,” he said.
“But when you see an amount of fires in a close proximity (or) amount of time, one begins to wonder, and certainly those would be questions investigators will look at.”
Anyone with information can reach RCMP at 780-467-7741 or submit tips anonymously on CrimeStoppers.ab.ca.
–With files from Phil Heidenreich, Global News