RVs burn in “suspicious” fire at storage facility: Firefighters, RCMP spend Father’s Day controlling and investigating dangerous incident

An early morning fire destroyed five recreational vehicles (RVs) at Patty Halter’s storage facility on Range Road 192, just across the highway from Tofield’s western entrance to town early Sunday morning.

The fire caused a great deal of concern in the com- munity, with many pointing fingers at younger people in light of the “Grad 2013” spray painted on campers and vehicles in the storage yard where the fire was set.

“Just want to thank the Grad Class of 2013 for ruining ours and many other people’s trailers at the local storage lot in Tofield,” wrote one woman on Facebook.
“Good way to start your life as successful grads. Trailers lit and burnt to the ground. Ours and all others spray painted. Disgusting.”

Another referred to this as just another indication of the problems with youth in the community, such as vandalism, and “the rampant drug problem in this town. Young kids selling and buying is ridiculous.”

But even though many in the community have their strong suspicions, fire investigators have yet to determine the official cause of the blaze.
The fire call came in around 1:40 a.m., said Tofield Fire Chief Dave Oleksyn. This was not how emergency services personnel would have hoped to be spending their Father’s Day.

“We arrived to find five RVs fully on fire,” he said, adding that high winds had caused the blaze to spread quickly. “The biggest concern was the propane,” he said, referring to the tanks attached to each unit.

“They all blew up, we knew it was going to happen,” he said….

For more see the June 18/13 issue of the Tofield Mercury