One person is in custody in connection with a 'suspicious' fire in a garage on the Barrie Central Collegiate property, according to Barrie Fire and Emergency Service.
"Barrie Police have been here. They have someone they were questioning in relation to this fire," said Platoon Chief Gord Beilby at the scene.
Firefighters were called to a garage fire located on Bradford St. behind the vacant school around 8 p.m. Thursday right next door to the fire hall.
Big clouds of smoke could be seen billowing in the air from as far away as across Kempenfelt Bay.
Beilby says they first thought the abandoned school was ablaze.
"It was going pretty good when we got here," he said.
"I call it a defensive fire right off the bat because it's abandoned. We're unsure of the stability of it. It was already into the structure so we deemed it to be unsafe for our guys to be inside."
Firefighters responded with two aerial trucks in case it was the school that was on fire or a nearby roominghouse at 44 Bradford.
A couple of firefighters went up in the bucket to cut a hole in the roof of the garage.
The fire department was worried about vagrants in the building and a shed right beside it.
"There was a gentleman sleeping on the ground while the building beside him is on fire. He was our primary concern. We got him up. We got him away from the structure. A little shaken up but other than that he's fine," said Beilby.
"There does appear in the shed someone was living there. There was some blankets and articles of clothing. The fire was more in the bigger structure not in the shed."
This is the second fire on the abandoned property in two months.
On April 2, there was a blaze on the roof of the abandoned Prince of Whales School which is included in the purchase of the Barrie Central site by a developer.
The abandoned buildings are a bit of a concern for firefighters.
"Generally, when we go to a house fire, some people are home and you can say everybody is out. We have no idea whether people are out and so its tough for us because you want to rescue anyone you can but at same time you don't know how many people or where they are."
No one was injured in the blaze.
