A suspicious fire in Grafton kept firefighters busy overnight and well into Wednesday morning.
Around 10 p.m. Nov. 6, Waterville and District firefighters were called to a vacant house at 5098 Highway 221 in Grafton. On arrival, fire crews found the structure fully involved and mutual aid was immediately requested from Berwick and Kentville. Crews were also called in from Aylesford to New Minas.
According to Waterville spokesman Kevin Ernest, mutual aid was required until 4 a.m. and the Waterville and District firefighters were on the scene until 5 a.m.
Ernest said the fire had proved "a bit stubborn" to extinguish, with "fire in the attic and between floors" and roof.
Around 12:30 a.m., Waterville brought in its aerial truck to apply water to the fire from above.
A Department of Transportation and Public Works crew was called in to apply salt to Highway 221 when water from the firefighting efforts froze on the road
Waterville Chief Wayne Johnstone was back at the scene Nov. 7, along with Kings District RCMP and a representative from the provincial Fire Marshal's office.
Johnstone said the house was unoccupied at the time of the fire, but the power was connected and he said he believed the property was insured.
The chief said he did not know if the blaze was connected to other recent suspicious fires in the county. The RCMP is investigating.
Firefighters were called back to the house to deal with hot spots around 11:40 a.m., with mutual aid requested from Berwick, Kentville and New Minas departments.
An excavator was brought in to knock down what was left of the house and firefighters remained on the scene until just after 3 p.m.
