SASKATOON — The Saskatoon Fire Department responded to two separate incidents that happened eight hours apart, and which were deemed suspicious by their fire investigator. The Saskatoon Police Service will continue with the investigation.
The SFD received a report at 3:24 a.m. on Aug. 11 of heavy black smoke coming from behind a building in the 2500 block of Jasper Avenue. The caller did not see and did not identify what was on fire.
Three fire engines, one ladder truck, a rescue unit and the battalion chief were dispatched to the scene with the first arriving crews reporting a stack of pallets behind a large structure fully involved in the fire.
The incident commander assigned two fire engines to take on the blaze while the other fire crews were asked to return to their station.
A separate group was also ordered to check the storage containers where the pallets were located if the fire had already reached them aside from ensuring the heat extension to their interiors.
The fire damage was contained to the exterior of the storage units and brought under control at 3:39 a.m. No injuries were reported from the fire, which originated from a stack of pallets in the yard cost $1,000 in damages and was deemed suspicious by the investigator.
On Aug. 10, at 7:45 p.m. a fire crew and engine were attending a community event in the area of Avenue W South when they were approached by a person informing them that smoke was coming from an apartment in the 500 Block of Avenue W South.
The fire crew arrived a minute after. The police were already on the scene and reported the fire was in the basement of the apartment complex.
Two more fire engines, a ladder truck, a rescue unit and the battalion chief were also dispatched to the fire.
Fire crews that arrived on the scene were given tactical duties and firefighters who were first on the scene located the suite that was on fire and reported smoke was showing. The suite’s door was locked.
Fire crews opened the door by force so they can enter the suite where they began extinguishing a fire that originated from a small storage room near the entrance. This fire, which cost $30,000 in damage, was brought under control at 8:11 p.m.
No injuries to civilians or firefighters occurred as a result of this fire and the suite was also unoccupied at the time of the incident. Fire crews ventilated the building, to clear it of smoke and carbon monoxide that resulted from the fire.
The fire investigator that attended the scene determined the fire as suspicious and turned over the result of the examination to SPS, which will continue the investigation.
