A Rutland A family is on edge after discovering a burn mark on the wall of their home. They said the damage was caused by an overnight fire started by someone using drugs on their property.
Homeowner Adam Cole says he first knew something was wrong when a neighbor pointed out a burnt wall. The fire spread to the outside of the house, dangerously close to the air intake.
“It went all the way up to the wall, and the worst thing is, it went up to our air intake,” Cole said.
When he went to investigate the area, he says he found drug paraphernalia on the ground, including a pipe and tin foil. He believes that someone was using drugs near the house and accidentally started the fire.
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“It melted some of the plastic and some of the scaffolding,” Cole said.
Cole says the fire appears to have happened in the middle of the night while his family was sleeping. What worries him most is how close the flames were to the bedrooms.
“My youngest son sleeps right on the other side of this wall, my oldest son sleeps on the other side, and my wife and I sleep downstairs,” he said. “If there was a break in the plaster, it would immediately end up in our bedrooms.”
The family is shocked not only by the damage, but by how much worse it could have been.
“It could have been a disaster,” Cole said. “I understand that people need to stay warm in cold weather, but there is no point in coming onto someone else’s property and setting their house on fire.”
The RCMP say they have completed their investigation.
Now, according to Cole, he walks the perimeter of his house every evening, checking for unwanted visitors, and hopes that nothing like this will happen again.
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