A massive blaze continues to fuel a mystery.
Investigators have been on scene since a fire destroyed a barn, hay, a travel trailer, vehicles and assorted equipment on Pottery Road Thursday morning.
“We haven’t been able to determine if it started inside the building and spread outside or vice versa,” said Jack Blair, Vernon deputy fire chief.
“We had to destroy so much of the straw (to get the fire out) so that hinders the investigation.”
A person was sleeping inside the travel trailer and narrowly escaped the approaching flames with her dogs.
Potential causes include the pile of hay combusting on its own or an item stored inside the barn.
The other possibility is the incident is suspicious.
“To say that it’s 100 per cent not arson, we can’t say that yet,” said Blair, who acknowledges there is public concern about a recent rash of suspicious blazes.
“This will be a tough one to say because it doesn’t fit the pattern of the other ones, but that’s not to say it isn’t.”
Blair wouldn’t speculate on when the investigation may be completed.
“We’re looking at all avenues,” he said.
The goal for firefighters Thursday was to keep the flames from spreading to the north to a shed and a house.
