Saskatoon dumpster arsons put city in 'dangerous position,' fire department says

The Saskatoon Fire Department says an arsonist who set fire to 29 recycling and garbage bins in March put the city "in a dangerous position" as resources were stretched thin across Saskatoon.

The fire department said 70 incidents were reported in a 24-hour period, with many of those calls coming in quick succession in a matter of hours during the afternoon on March 1.

Twenty one fires were reported that day with 25 fire trucks and other vehicles needed during the response.

"Fire call interactions involved are not only limited to the extinguishment of fire, but also the relocation of fire apparatus from other fire districts, delayed fire response due to the inundation of fires and the collection of resources needed to mitigate the incident," a statement from the fire department read.

"Responding code red also comes with some inherent risk when travelling to the location of the incident and it is recognized that when a malicious act repeated multiple times is the source of the response, that the action of the individual setting the fires, puts the public at risk needlessly."

In an email from a City of Saskatoon spokesperson, the fire department detailed the strain on its resources as one person accused of setting 29 separate fires moved through the city's Lawson Heights, Silverwood Heights and River Heights neighborhoods.

• Download the CTV News app to get breaking news alerts from across Saskatchewan sent to your device

Multiple crews needed to be relocated to various fire halls in the city to accommodate the amount of crews extinguishing fires.

Off duty firefighters were called in to backfill and support fire halls during the rapid increase in calls.

Firefighters, EMS, police, fire investigators, and multiple city departments all were involved, and "personnel resources taxed during the array of pointless fires set," the city said.

Other areas of the city were also put at risk because the fire department's ability to react to other incidents in the city was impacted due to the shortage of crews elsewhere.

"Due to delay of response because of the insufficient fire department coverage when the incendiary fire acts that were lit by one individual were occurring," the city said.

"In closing, Saskatoon Fire Department acknowledges that the action of one individual setting the multitude of waste receptacles placed our city in a dangerous position and that the undue stress to resources is not acceptable."

Twenty-nine year old Mitchell Isley appeared at Provincial Court's Mental Health Strategy Court on Monday facing 29 charges of arson.

His matter was adjourned until June 5.