Fire investigators say fires at separate Dartmouth apartments this week were both deliberately set.
The first fire took place at 112 Pinecrest Dr. just after 5 p.m. Tuesday. An adult man died in the blaze, with Halifax regional fire spokesman Capt. Dave Meldrum saying the fire was started in the bedroom of an upstairs apartment with matches or a lighter.
“We believe it was the deceased person who started the fire,” Meldrum said.
The name of the victim hasn’t been released. Everyone else in the building got out safely.
Also this week, an apartment fire that forced 12 people from their homes early Wednesday morning is now being investigated by police as an arson.
Halifax Regional Police spokesman Const. Brian Palmeter said the file for the fire at a three-storey apartment on the corner of Dundas and Portland streets was handed over to them from fire investigators late Wednesday.
“Basically they determined the fire was deliberately set at which time it becomes a police investigation,” he said.
No one was hurt in the blaze. Four apartments in the back of the building were extensively damaged. A first-floor pub and a laundromat escaped damage. Five pets inside the building also got out unharmed.
