A fire early Tuesday in Port Alberni that destroyed two barns that were built for the B.C. Summer Games and once housed the horses for the RCMP Musical Ride is only the latest in a spate of suspicious activity and vandalism at the city’s fairgrounds.
Scott Green, president of the Alberni District Fall Fair, said a small office burned down close to the barns in November and there have been at least three bush fires on the 40-acre property’s perimeter in the past year.
Vehicles, trailers and other buildings on the fairgrounds have also been broken into and vandalized over the past year, said Green.
“It’s like a kick in the gut,” said Green, who has been involved in the fair for more than four decades.
Port Alberni firefighters responded just after midnight Tuesday and found the two barns engulfed in flames. Two other barn structures close by were charred by the fire, but saved as firefighters focused on keeping the fire from spreading.
No animals were on site at the time of the fire.
Wes Patterson, deputy chief of the Port Alberni Fire Department, said the cause of the fire has not been determined, but it is deemed suspicious.
Patterson said the RCMP and a fire investigator were sifting through the rubble of the destroyed barns on Tuesday.
Green said police have footage from a mounted camera on the fairgrounds site, but he doubted if the images would be close or clear enough to be used as evidence in the RCMP and fire department’s investigation.
The barns were built for the 1992 B.C. Summer Games and used by several horse clubs and the local 4H Club, as well as events surrounding the annual fall fair, held the weekend after Labour Day.
Green said the barns were “uninsurable” because of their age, and rebuilding them would cost at least $60,000. It’s unclear at this point if the fair executive will rebuild the structures.
“It’s really too bad … I’ve been with the fair for a long time and there are a lot of people in the community who put a lot of time into the buildings,” said Green. “This has really upset me.”
Green said the community is rallying volunteers to clean up the site, as plans for the 75th edition of the fall fair Sept. 8 to 11 proceed.
