Things had been quiet for a few months, the last suspicious rural fire near Guelph happening in mid-January. But that all ended Sunday morning with a pair of fires at abandoned properties.
Fire crews from Erin and Hillsburgh stations were called to a fire at a shed on the property of a gravel pit on 3rd Line Erin south of County Road 124 around 8:15 a.m. Sunday.
Forty five minutes later while they were extinguishing that fire they were called to another fire less than two kilometres away, this one in an abandoned house on County Road 125, roughly 10 minutes east of Guelph.
Fire crews from Guelph-Eramosa also responded to the second fire.
"Both fires are deemed suspicious," said Erin Fire Chief Dan Callaghan at the scene of the second fire on County Road 125.
No cause of the fires has yet been determined.
"When we arrived at the first fire we were in the process of extinguishing that fire when another structure fire came in," Callaghan said.
"It was a fire in the basement of the home and the fire became so difficult to extinguish that the decision was made to allow the structure was allowed to burn" in the name of safety, the Chief said.
Callaghan said the Wellington OPP's Arson Task Force and the Ontario Fire Marshall's office are investigating both fires.
Both buildings were vacant and no injuries were reported. Damages values have not been determined, said Wellington County OPP.
That makes it 16 suspicious fires, all but two at abandoned structures of some kind, since last October, and all within a 15 minute drive of Guelph.
The other suspicious fires wre at a working saw mill in Belwood and a shed used to store vehicles just east of Rockwood.
Police have previously said they believe at least some of the fires are linked and they are looking for more than one culprit.
Anyone with any information about the Sunday fires or any of the other suspicious fires are asked to contact the Wellington County OPP at 1-888-310-1122 or Crime Stoppers at 1-800-222-8477 (TIPS). Tips can be left online at www.csgw.tips.
