Suspicious fire destroys Brantford barn

Police are investigating after a vacant barn in Brantford, Ont. was destroyed by fire.

A vacant barn in Brantford has been completely destroyed by a suspicious fire.

The Brantford Fire Department was called to the fire on Mount Pleasant Road around 3:30 p.m. Friday. When they arrived, the building was already engulfed in flame.

“I saw just very thick black smoke rising into the sky and then saw flames,” said Trinity Galway, who was nearby with her mother at the time of the fire.

“It went up fast. And that’s when we started hearing the sirens from all over the counties coming,” explained Lyndsay Galway, who lives nearby. “The road quickly filled up, and there was thick black smoke heading towards the subdivision. It was really hot.”

Seventeen firefighters battled the blaze and brought it under control around 4:30 p.m.

The damage to the structure is considered to be significant, and an excavator was brought in to help firefighters extinguish lingering hotspots.

By Saturday morning, all that remained of the barn was a pile of charred wood and wood.

No injuries have been reported.

In a news release on Saturday, the Brantford Police Service confirmed investigators are treating the fire as suspicious. Work is underway to determine what started the fire.

Anyone with more information is urged to reach out to police.