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Woodstock police continue to seek answers for Dec. 2 suspicious blaze

Feb. 27, 2023, Woodstock, N.B. – The Woodstock Police Force is asking the public’s help as they continue to investigate a suspicious fire at a Charlotte Street apartment building on Dec. 2.

With the building’s front entrance and verandah on fire, Woodstock Fire Department firefighters, who responded to the call at 2:19 a.m., helped trapped residents escape the building from the roof of the back porch.

In a social media statement on Feb. 27, the Woodstock police asked anyone with information regarding the incident to bring it to their attention.

“It is believed that the fire was intentionally set while the residence was occupied,” said the WPF statement. “Police have followed up on several leads and are now reaching out to the public for any information regarding this incident.”

Speaking to the River Valley Sun shortly after the fire on Dec. 2, Woodstock Fire Chief Harold McLellan said the first firefighters arrived to find the building’s front verandah burning.

As some firefighters knocked down the front entrance blaze, McLellan said others helped trapped tenants and pets escape via a ladder from the roof of the building’s back porch.

“We helped three adults, two kittens, a cat and a dog,” the fire chief said.

McLellan said the emergency call came in with the frightening description of a “structure fire with people trapped.”

“Your heart rate goes up, and your foot pedal goes down,” he said.

McLelland said his fire crews contained the blaze to the front verandah, but the public hallway and four apartments sustained smoke and soot damage.

He said investigators know the fire started at the exterior of the building, adding officers from the Woodstock Police Force and the Fire Marshal’s Office attended the fire scene.

– River Valley Sun