Barn fire near Harrietsville suspicious in nature

A fire that destroyed an abandoned barn just west of Harrietsville on Tuesday night, Sept. 9, is being investigated by Middlesex County fire prevention and Ontario Provincial Police officers as suspicious.

Fire Prevention Officer John Elston said the barn fire at 2140 Harrietsville Drive was reported by someone calling on a cell phone at 10:57 p.m.

The first firefighters arrived on scene at 11:11 p.m. and found the barn fully engulfed in flames.

The entire contingent of firefighters from Thames Centre’s Dorchester fire hall and Central Elgin’s Belmont fire hall fought the blaze and were on scene for at least two and a half hours.

The barn, a two-storey 100 feet long by 40 feet wide structure, had a few unidentifiable items inside and the damage estimate is $75,000.

No one was injured.

Mr. Elston said he was still working with the Middlesex OPP, but he was considering the cause of the fire to be suspicious in nature.

He added the investigation was looking into whether there was any connection between the Sept. 9 barn fire to recent fires at a Belmont home and a barn just outside the village that happened in the early morning hours of Sunday, Aug. 24.

The causes of both of those Belmont area fires were also under investigation as suspicious in nature.