By Staff
BURLINGTON, ON January 30th, 2013 At around 6:30 a.m. Friday, January 11th, an O.P.P. officer was approached by a citizen and advised that a nearby business at #650 Plains Road E. appeared to have had its windows smashed. Upon further investigation it was also determined that the premise and a neighbouring business had been flooded by water.
Burlington Firefighters and Halton Regional Police officers were called to the site. It was soon determined that a fire had triggered the sprinkler system inside the building. Due to the nature of the origin of the fire, police have deemed the fire suspicious. No injuries were reported due to this incident.
The Office of the Ontario Fire Marshall has some of the best forensic minds in the country doing the investigations. They have rarely seen the kind of footage found in the Aldershot pizza store fire.
The building was secured and the Ontario Fire Marshall (OFM) notified. The Halton Regional Police Collision Reconstruction Unit (CRU), which also investigates fire scenes, was called and commenced an investigation with Forensic Identification Services officers.
A joint investigation between an OFM Investigator and the CRU will be conducted.
That investigation has produced some security camera footage that is amazing. You see the crime taking place and in several places the video is taken into slow motion giving a viewer an opportunity to look carefully at the person being filmed. The footage is of an arsonist at work – seldom seen.
The arsonist is wearing hood making it very difficult but there might be enough for someone to identify the arsonist.
Halton Regional Police are appealing for anyone with information on the deliberate fire set on January 11, 2013 at 650 Plains Road E in Burlington to contact The Collision Reconstruction Unit at 905 825-4747 x 5065, Crime Stoppers at 1 800 222-TIPS(8477), through the web at www.haltoncrimestoppers.com or by texting “Tip201” with your message to 274637(crimes).
