Derek Neary
Northern News Services

FORT LIARD (Jul 10/98) - An arsonist, suspected to be under 12 years of age, is thought to have ignited a fire in an abandoned trailer in Fort Liard Thursday afternoon.

"It was definitely arson," said Al Harris, Fort Liard's fire chief.

Cpl. John Milner of the RCMP said one child has been identified as a suspect. Should the child be found responsible, "there's different programs that we can look at through social services but nothing criminally," Milner explained.

The remains of the trailer, located on Poplar Road, have since been demolished. A nearby backhoe, under lease to Beaver Enterprises, was scorched by the intense flames causing between $5,000-$10,000 damage, according to Milner.

The community's emergency siren sounded shortly after 2 p.m. Thursday. Firefighters were on the scene about five minutes later and quickly got things under control, extinguishing the blaze before it caught hold of surrounding trees.

"We were very fortunate that so many of us were close to the fire hall and that the fire hall was close to where the fire was," said Harris, who described his crew's performance as "excellent."

According to Harris, the family that had lived in the trailer moved out around four years ago. There was no property remaining inside, he added.