Couple Loses Home After Trailer Fire Called Arson
Posted June 17, 2008 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
It was a tinder dry trailer that one family called home – and now it’s gone. The residence at 187 Dundas St. W. in Mississauga went up in flames Tuesday morning in what police say was a blaze that was deliberately set.
There isn’t much but a shell left of the structure and most of the possessions inside have been reduced to rubble. Also lost is something far less replaceable: the family dog, who couldn’t get out of the burning home in time.
Those who used to live there came back after the flames were doused, sifting through the ashes to see if there was anything left. “These are tinderboxes,” laments neighbour Yvonne Carrier. “You know, they just poof, gone. It’s all wood inside. There’s no fire proofing inside.”
Fire has long been a concern in the neighbourhood but Carrier knows things could have been worse. “We’ve got propane heating and cooking,” she reveals. “You know what propane’s like when heat gets to them in the fire. And they’ve got two tanks on the side of their house, so we were very lucky.”
The couple left for work around 6:30am and an hour later, their home was gone. Thirty-four-year-old Michael Chin is facing arson charges. Cops haven’t said what the motive for the alleged arson may have been.
