A bushfire last Tuesday near the Cornwall apartment complex is being treated as suspicious.
At around 4 p.m., the Athabasca Fire Department was called to a fire that had started in tall grass and moved to the bush area. They arrived very quickly on scene.
“We're all on alert. We're all on edge these past couple of weeks,” said Athabasca fire chief Brian Hall. “We had numerous firefighters there — I think we had 14 firefighters there at one time. There were definitely enough people to do the job and we took it very seriously.”
They had the fire under control by 4:30 and out completely after an hour. According to Hall, although the fire had the potential to be very bad, the area it was in worked against it.
“(It) didn't have the stuff that was going to go up and create a lot of heat. So, it was OK to say it was contained to the ground, which is a good thing,” he said. “We put it out as diligently and as fast as possible. We had a great response time to it.”
After they got the fire under control, they called the RCMP and the fire investigator, both of whom deemed it suspicious.
“Right now it's under investigation and we're seeking the public's assistance in identifying those responsible for setting the field alight,” said the Athabasca RCMP Cpl. Rick Dozois. “We don't have any specifics right now and we're following up leads.”
Dozois said there are witness statements speaking of three boys between 10 and 15 running away from the scene, but they haven’t had any luck tracking them down as of yet.
“Right now nothing's transpired in identifying who they are as of yet, but we are looking into any leads that might come forward,” he said.
“The field was on fire, people took off. We don't know if they're responsible, but we would like to talk to those males.”
The RCMP is asking anyone with any information on the bushfire or the boys’ location to call the Athabasca RCMP at 780-675-4252 or for the males to come into the detachment.
