Fire broke out Thursday morning in a garbage bin at a seniors’ residence in Kitchener.
That by itself may not be cause for concern, but it’s the third fire on the property since last June – which has some residents worried.
“It’s scary. We don’t know who we can trust and who we can’t,” says Beverley Porter, a resident of 233 Franklin Street North.
Porter has lived in the 118-unit building for 12 years, and says she’s never seen a rash of fires like has happened in the past seven months.
The fires started last month with a small fire in the building’s garbage room.
A few months later, flames destroyed a loveseat in the laundry room.
Police say they’re looking into Thursday’s garbage fire, but wouldn’t be if not for the recent track record at the property.
“By itself, it doesn’t appear at this stage to be suspicious – but because we have several unsolved fires from the past six months … it made sense for our investigators to be involved,” says Olaf Heinzel, spokesperson for Waterloo Regional Police.
In addition to the fires, there’s one more incident that has some residents of 233 Franklin on edge.
Earlier this month, somebody wrote notes on multiple walls in the building claiming there were bombs on the premises.
Police determined that there were no bombs and no serious threats, and consider the incident to be only graffiti, but residents say they’re concerned nonetheless.
“The concern is ‘Are we safe in our home? Is this a problem? Is there something going on?’” says Deb Schlichter, director of housing for the Region of Waterloo, which subsidizes the facility.
“It’s very unusual, especially in a seniors’ building. This is not the kind of behaviour that we would normally see.”
Schlichter says the region has bumped 233 Franklin up a priority list for security cameras, and hopes to have the devices installed within a couple of months.
“We’re trying to make this place feel safe again,” she says.
