A fire late Wednesday that destroyed 16 townhouses in Stony Plain "could be suspicious," town officials said Friday. "The preliminary investigation has indicated the cause of the Sommerville Springs fire could be suspicious," the town said in a news release. RCMP in Stony Plain have brought in a private fire investigator, the release said. Stony Plain's fire department will support the RCMP in the ongoing investigation, it added. In a separate news release Friday, Stony Plain town manager Tom Goulden spoke about the town's frustrations with the developers of the townhouses that burned on Wednesday night. "What began as an interesting project slowly became a site that challenged our organization and residents, Goulden said. He said the town had used its legal authority to stop the project because of "deficiencies in infrastructure and building construction." Portions of the land ended up in a judicial sale process "which is only now being resolved," he said. Tom Goulden, Stony Plain's town manager, spoke about the town's frustrations with the developers behind the townhouses that burned on Wednesday night. (Town of Stony Plain) Goulden said he expects portions of the land may be under new ownership by the end of the month. The town has conducted engineering assessments and building code reviews of the development's existing structures. Next steps will be recommended by the town's consulting engineers, he said. A website for Elegant Development Inc. lists Sommerville as one of its current projects. CBC News contacted the president and CEO of the company, who said he is no longer a part of the project and declined comment. The fire was reported at 11:30 p.m. Wednesday. About 28 firefighters from Stony Plain, Spruce Grove and Parkland County worked on the fire for two hours, bringing it under control around 1:30 a.m. Thursday. In addition to the 16 townhouses destroyed, 14 others were heavily damaged.Neighbours said they haven't seen any substantial work at the site for at least two years, when the town erected a fence around the construction zone. "I think they should just rip it all down. They've had so much trouble there, the buildings have been empty for so long. "There's no work on them and it's been a few years now," said Melanie Wilson, who lives near the site. "It's just an eyesore."<doc-sep>An investigation is underway, after firefighters were called to a fire at a Stony Plain townhouse complex late Wednesday night. Crews were called to the complex, which is under construction off golf course road near Highway 628 in Stony Plain at about 11:30 p.m. Firefighters had to truck in water to battle the blaze, as the area is under development and hydrants were not operational. “This was a defensive fire.” Stony Plain Fire Chief Trevor Mistal said in a statement. “Due to it rapidly moving, safety hazards around the site, and the extreme heat and huge fire load, our priority was to prevent any injuries and to ensure no damage to other buildings or property outside the Sommerville Springs development.” Stony Plain officials said it’s believed 16 townhouses were destroyed in the fire, another 14 sustained varying levels of damage. The fire was deemed under control at about 1 a.m. Officials said the last building collapsed nearly an hour and a half after crews arrived. Early Thursday morning, crews remained on the scene putting out hotspots. The town said the development had been the source of headaches in the past. “The Town has been frustrated with the development and the developers of this site. Our efforts to mitigate risk and work through the court system to resolve the problems with this area are still ongoing. This situation just adds to the list of grievances we have,” town manager Tom Goulden said in a statement. “We commend the efforts of our Fire Department, protecting their own lives and surrounding buildings was the right call under the circumstances. No injuries were reported as a result of the fire, and buildings our property outside of the development were not damaged.<doc-sep>Fire investigators are looking for the cause of an overnight blaze that destroyed an estimated 16 under-construction townhouses and damaged another 14. Article content Mounties and the Stony Plain Fire Department are looking for the cause of an overnight blaze that destroyed an estimated 16 under-construction townhouses and damaged another 14. Around 11:30 p.m. Wednesday, firefighters were called to the Sommerville Springs development — a fenced-off work site where construction has stalled, said town spokeswoman Stephanie Barsby Boisvert. We apologize, but this video has failed to load. tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Massive Stony Plain fire destroys 16 townhouses under construction Back to video Sixteen units, which were all connected, were engulfed in flames by the time Stony Plain fire Chief Trevor Mistal arrived, he said in a Thursday news release. “His priority, along with the other firefighters, was just to make sure that this didn’t spread,” Barsby Boisvert said Thursday. Trevor Mistal An adjacent row of townhouses in the same development sustained heat damage from the fire. Firefighters from Stony Plain, Spruce Grove and Parkland County had the blaze under control by around 1 a.m. No one was injured. The town has been involved in a court action to “resolve problems” with the developer, the news release said. Barsby Boisvert didn’t immediately know if the fire was considered suspicious.<doc-sep>Send this page to someone via email A large fire west of Edmonton late Wednesday night lit up the sky and a huge cloud of thick smoke filled the air, as flames consumed part of a stalled construction townhouse complex. The fire happened at the Sommerville Springs development near Golf Course Road on the south side of Stony Plain, where a row of townhomes was burnt to the foundation. Firefighters responded to a 911 call shortly after 11:30 p.m. Wednesday. “Upon arrival there were multiple townhouses fully involved,” Stony Plain fire chief Trevor Mistal said. Crews from Spruce Grove and Parkland County were called in to help, with a total of 28 firefighters on scene. “We immediately went to defensive strategy, just due to the limited access. We had no water supply and just the amount of fire and fuel load we were faced with.” Story continues below advertisement View image in full screen A large fire in Stony Plain, Alta. on Thursday, June 21, 2018. Courtesy: Hayden Reed The area has no fire hydrants, so tankers were used to truck in water to help extinguish the blaze. The fire was brought under control at around 1 a.m., but crews were expected to remain on scene throughout the day to put out hot spots. The town said the last building collapsed about 80 minutes after crews arrived. The fire broke out in a new development of duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes located in a field between the Southridge and High Park neighbourhoods. In total, 16 units were destroyed and another 14 were damaged by the intense heat. The homes were all in various stages of construction. The town said only a few units had drywall installed, and most were framed and unprotected. Mistal said work on the site came to a halt some time ago. Story continues below advertisement “It’s been under construction for the last few years, it’s basically stalled right now,” Mistal said. “There were no occupants living here at all.” The large fire could be seen from kilometres away. Video showed flames reaching twice the height of the buildings and the wind carried flaming debris several blocks away. “There were a lot of embers and sparks being picked up and thrown into other neighbourhoods in proximity to this one,” Mistal said. Kalin and Kelly Fisher’s home backs onto the field where Sommerville Springs was being built, but they said the site had seen little recent activity until Wednesday night. “We came outside and the fire was pretty well taller than the trees. Everything was engulfed in flames,” Kalin Fisher told Global News. Fisher said embers were falling in their backyard, and firefighters came over to make sure the debris wouldn’t cause more fires. “There was quite a cloud of glowing embers coming across the field,” he said. Embers burnt some holes through the plastic tarp cover of a storage shed in their yard, but their house was OK. Fisher said the entire field behind their house was slated for development, but the site has been a dead zone for years. Story continues below advertisement “It’s been enclosed for the past three years.” In a statement, Stony Plain town manager Tom Goulden said: “The Town has been frustrated with the development and the developers of this site. Our efforts to mitigate risk and work through the court system to resolve the problems with this area are still ongoing. This situation just adds to the list of grievances we have.” Story continues below advertisement A 2016 story by the Spruce Grove Examiner said after the project was abandoned, the town put up fences around the vacant site because it was becoming a target of vandalism and a safety concern. “We commend the efforts of our fire department, protecting their own lives and surrounding buildings was the right call under the circumstances,” Goulden added. No one was injured. The cause of the fire is under investigation and a damage estimate has not yet been completed. Stony Plain is about 25 kilometres west of Edmonton in Parkland County.<doc-sep>
The Stony Plain Fire Department is investigating a blaze at a problematic residential construction site that destroyed 16 townhouses and damaged 14 others late Wednesday. The call came in at 11:30 p.m. and "upon arrival multiple houses were fully involved," fire chief Trevor Mistal told CBC Thursday. "There were massive amounts of calls because it was such a huge fireball that we were getting calls from all over town," Mistal said. The Sommerville Springs development, near Golf Course Road, included duplexes, triplexes and fourplexes that were in various stages of construction, he said. There is no water supply to the area, so a tanker truck had to be brought in. Sixteen townhouses were destroyed and another 14 were heavily damaged in a fire Wednesday night. (Town of Stony Plain) Neighbours say they haven't seen any substantial work at the site for at least two years, when the town erected a fence around the construction zone. "I'm surprised it didn't happen sooner," said Melanie Wilson, who lives near the site. "I think they should just rip it all down. They've had so much trouble there, the buildings have been empty for so long. There's no work on them and it's been a few years now," she said. "It's just an eyesore." 'We wanted to contain it' About 28 firefighters from Stony Plain, Spruce Grove and Parkland County worked on the fire for two hours, the fire chief said. Most of the crews focused on the fire while others were "roving" the area. "With the wind and the embers and sparks that were flying out of there we wanted to contain it to that property, we didn't want it spreading to other neighbourhoods," Mistal said. FIrefighters continued to put out hot spots on Thursday. (CBC) There were no injuries. All the houses were unoccupied. Mistal described the project as "stalled." "The 16 townhouses that were destroyed, two or three of them had drywall inside, the rest of them were just framed," he said. Town manager Tom Goulden said in a news release Thursday the town has been frustrated with the development and the developers. "This situation just adds to the list of grievances we have," Goulden said. "Our efforts to mitigate risk and work through the court system to resolve the problems with this area are still ongoing." Investigators are now looking for the cause of the fire, Mistal said.