Abandoned | Building hadn't been used in years

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By HEATHER MCLAUGHLIN
mclaughlin.heather@dailygleaner.com

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As firefighters tried to cool down the hot ashes and charred wood of a gutted building at the former Kingsclear Central Reformatory, an RCMP officer knocked on doors of neighbouring houses to see if residents noticed anything unusual Monday morning.

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The Daily Gleaner/Ray Bourgeois

Firefighters from several fire departments battled a large blaze that destroyed a building at the former Kingsclear Central Reformatory on Monday morning. The RCMP and fire investigators say the fire is suspicious.

The Daily Gleaner/Ray Bourgeois

Firefighters from several fire departments battled a large blaze that distroyed a building at the Kings Clear Central Reformatory. The Police are treating the fire as suspicious.

"It's very suspicious," RCMP spokesman Sgt. Claude Tremblay told reporters gathered at the scene in Island View.

The early morning blaze gutted one of the vacant, boarded-up structures on the hillside property owned by New Brunswick's Supply and Services Department.

Closed for several years, there was no electricity to the site and fuel sources - such as propane and diesel - had been drained, leaving few possible causes for a spontaneous blaze.

Police and fire investigators were waiting for the fire to be quelled in order to enter the interior and search for a fire source and point of origin.

"We'll have to wait until it's investigated until we can find out anything," said Keith Critchlow, regional maintenance supervisor with the Supply and Services Department.

Passersby on Route 102, the old Trans-Canada Highway that runs along the St. John River and in front of the reformatory property, noticed flames and smoke before 7 a.m. and called emergency personnel.

Dozens of firefighters from a number of fire departments, including Keswick Ridge, Kingsclear, Upper Kingsclear, Oromocto, Fredericton and New Maryland, responded.

Because the site is outside city limits and doesn't have fire hydrants, firefighters had to keep reloading water into pumper trucks from ponds located next door at the Region 3 Natural Resources property.

Murray Crouse, assistant deputy chief of the Upper Kingsclear Fire Department, which took the lead on the fire, said there was heavy, black smoke coming out of the windows of the building when they arrived.

The fire worked its way up into the roof and by 8:30 a.m., most of the roof was gone.

"It just took off," he said.

The provincial fire marshal's office was on scene to investigate, but had to wait until firefighters finished their job.

Firefighters couldn't enter the building because of the burning roof, fearing it would collapse, Crouse said.

The old reformatory is in a cluster of abandoned structures, including a three-storey house nearby, a main entry way building to the prison, a free-standing garage in back, and a couple of attached structures.

Fire crews held the blaze to one building.

Over the years, the provincial government has seen vandalism at the property and found mattresses and other signs that transients may have occupied the building.

But the government boarded up the smashed windows and padlocked exterior doors. It was unclear if the building had been broken into Monday.

There was no indication Monday that anyone was inside the building, although emergency medical technicians were on standby in case their help was needed.

Crouse said there were no injuries in the fire.

The complex is notorious to New Brunswickers because it was the place where former guard Karl Toft molested boys at the Kingsclear Training Centre.

Toft spent a large part of his work life at the training centre, which is a separate group of buildings on an adjacent property.

The training centre has been sold to a private owner, but the province has been unable to get rid of the Kingsclear Central Reformatory, despite offering it for public tender.

Toft worked briefly at the reformatory, which was an incarceration facility for offenders, but the majority of his sexual assaults occurred at the training centre.

The 71-year-old Toft spent 13 years in prison after being convicted of his crimes and another three years at a half-way house in Edmonton, Alta., after his release. He hasn't returned to New Brunswick.