Police and fire departments are investigating two fires on the same Errington property last week.
“Obviously two fires on the same property in two days is suspicious and there is an active investigation ongoing,” Oceanside RCMP Cpl. Jesse Foreman said Tuesday.
A sound described as an explosion around 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, June 26 caught people’s attention on Gibbs Road, but it was actually someone driving by on the highway who noticed the smoke and called in the fire, according to one neighbour.
Errington Fire Chief Troy Bater said one of many structures on the forested property, described as a shed, was reduced to ash before they could get the fire under control.
Some neighbours said they heard some sort of small bangs or explosions, “small firearm ammunition like a 22,” going off in the early stage of the fire, but Bater said there were aerosol cans and other things that might have exploded but he didn’t see any evidence of ammunition.
He said he was heading back to the property the next day to meet the RCMP and continue an investigation into the unknown cause of the fire when they saw smoke and the main house went up in flames and was “fully involved by the time the trucks got there.”
Again aided by the Parksville and Coombs fire departments, they battled the blaze but the house was destroyed before the fire was extinguished.
Bater said there was someone living on the property but they weren’t home at the time of either fire and there were no injuries.
Foreman said they are investigating with the help of the Parksville Fire Department and they will bring in other experts as needed and he couldn’t guess how long the investigation may take.
