Fire destroys two garages on Garwood Avenue

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This article was published 10/8/2013 (2491 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

No injuries were reported in a fire that destroyed two garages and extended to the back of one home in the 700 block of Garwood Avenue shortly after 2 a.m. today.

Neighbours reported that police on the scene told them that they suspect an arsonist set the fire in the residential Crescentwood neighbourhood but the platoon fire chief on the scene said he was not ready to confirm the cause of the fire.

"It's under investigation. I can't say it was arson. It may have been an electrical short. It could have been an accident," Platoon Chief Ted Kuryluk said.

Kuryluk said the fire spread to the back of the single-storey house at 753 Garwood, igniting insulation in the attic.

There was no damage estimate available overnight. In addition to the structural fires, flames also destroyed a boat and a van.

Three people and a dog who live in the house at the address escaped without injury. The owner said he also believed the fire was deliberately set. He said his son spotted flames shooting up from their boat in the backyard and it spread from there to the garage.

Next door, the neighbour said "I was surprised at how quickly it spread. The hydro lines came down in my backyard and that's what set the fire to my garage."

Garwood was briefly closed to traffic at Lilac Street while fire fighters fought the blaze.

Calls to 911 came from numerous neighbours on Garwood and the the street across the back lane on Fleet Avenue.

The area is in the same neighbourhood where an arsonist was convicted of several garage fires a couple of years ago.