Neighbours shocked by 'suspicious' fire at Kitchener, Ont. playground

Fire damages Kitchener playground A Kitchener playground is now off-limits because of a suspicious fire. Tyler Kelaher has the latest.

A fire at a Kitchener, Ont. playground is being treated as suspicious by the Waterloo Regional Police Service.

Emergency responders were called to put out the flames at the Heritage Drive park shortly after midnight on Tuesday.

No injuries were reported.

City staff later taped off the structure to prevent anyone from using the equipment.

A city spokesperson told CTV News: “City staff are assessing the extent of the damage to the play structure to determine the next steps and timelines for repair.”

Wendy Parkins said she takes her granddaughter to the park a couple times every week. She didn’t even know about the fire until they came to use the playground.

“Kind of shocked, it’s sad,” Parkins told CTV News. “This is supposed to be for children, not something for people to destroy.”

Vaneassa Volkaert were also disappointed to learn of the fire.

“Hope the kids get a new jungle gym, [the city] replaces it and, hopefully, whoever did it get punished,” she said.

Police and the Kitchener Fire Department are both investigating the cause of the playground fire.

The city has not released a damage estimate.