Barrie firefighters responded to a structure fire around 9:30 a.m., today, at an abandoned building on McKay Road near Veterans Drive in the city's south end.
The blaze at 180 McKay Rd. W., needed three pumpers, one tanker and one platoon to bring it under control.
Deputy Fire Chief Carrie Clark told BarrieToday the blaze was knocked down and the Office of the Fire Marshal (OFM) has been called in.
“The OFM is on their way as the fire is being deemed suspicious,” Clark said Thursday. “This is a building that has been boarded up and abandoned for quite some time, so we are trying to find out how this fire started.”
Clark also said water had to be shuttled to the scene with a tanker because the fire happened in an area where there are no hydrants between Highway 400 and Essa Road.
Barrie police communications co-ordinator Peter Leon said officers with the forensic identification unit are also on scene.
"We are investigating and this is certainly an element of criminality involved," he told BarrieToday.
