Work is underway to determine the cause of four fires in Salisbury over the weekend.

One destroyed the town’s only grocery store with the others in a vacant building and two other storage-type structures.

Salisbury Fire Chief Bradley Macleod says the Office of the Fire Marshal is investigating the root cause of those fires.

“If they determine there’s anything suspicious, RCMP will help with the investigation,” Macleod adds.

He adds it’s not often the team of 27 volunteers has four fires in one weekend. “Typically, we don’t have structural fires very often. Maybe one or two
every couple of months.”

Many have been left sore and exhausted, and they’re thankful for the help of several other departments that assisted in fighting the fires, including Petitcodiac, Elgin, Moncton, Riverview, and Dieppe.

Salsibury residents concerned over the increased number of fires

Mayor Robert Campbell says he shares their worries, but adds we must respect the process, “Anytime you have that amount of fires, you need to be concerned. You can’t be blind to that fact, but you also need to respect the process that we have to allow the Fire Marshall’s Office and the RCMP to do their diligence.”

With the loss of Independent Grocer, Campbell says they have to think about the shopping needs of many of the seniors and others living in their community.

Outpouring of support

He says meetings are currently underway to try to offer assistance and solutions for those with shopping needs, ” We had some calls last night and this morning. We’re really in the early stages of that. We’re doing coordination, and we’re getting inundated with individuals who want to help. We’re gathering a registration of everyone who is calling to help out. We want to get as many people on a list as possible.”

Campbell adds that anyone who would like to help can reach out to him directly via email.

“I don’t think people realize that it (Independent Grocer) served more than just the community of Salisbury. It’s more than just a grocery store; it’s also a community space. There are actually a lot of individuals from Moncton who come into our town, and it’s a grocery store for a larger region,” he says.

Campbell adds that it is a tragic loss that the town has lost its Independent Grocer; the firefighters were able to save two adjacent businesses, the Great Canadian Dollar Store and an insurance company.

“We have to look for our blessings where our blessings are. No one was hurt, no staff or firefighters,” Campbell stressed.