Two teens arrested for arson spree

Police in Niagara arrested two teens in relation to a number of fires in the area of Ridgeway over the past month, one of which destroyed a house.

The first of the suspicious fires began in the early morning of April 26 behind the Ridgeway Furniture and Appliance store. At the time, witnesses told police two teenagers were seen fleeing the scene.

Two more fires were set last Sunday. The first fire was started in a dumpster behind the local high school. Later that night, a vacant home on Prospect Point Road was destroyed by a fire, and a neighbouring home sustained damage.

The spree of fires had residents on edge. “I think everyone’s at risk in the neighbourhood when you have someone running around starting fires,” says Peter Feren, who lives across the street from the school.

The latest fires happened on Tuesday night when a dumpster was set on fire behind the Avondale store on Dominion Road, as well as some recycling boxes on Bellearir Boulevard.

Niagara Regional Police arrested 18-year-olds Hayden Jessop and Garret Garner, both of Fort Erie. Jessop’s father told a CHCH reporter that turning his son into police was the hardest move he’s ever had to make.

Both young men face several counts of Mischief under $5,000 and are awaiting a bail hearing in St. Catharines.