An overnight fire that damaged or destroyed more than two dozen businesses at a strip mall in southeast Edmonton on Tuesday was deliberately set, police said in an update on Thursday.
Edmonton Fire Rescue Services said reports of a commercial structure fire at 34 Avenue and 92 Street began coming in at 12:34 a.m. Tuesday.
Fire crews arrived six minutes later and quickly called in more crews to help battle the two-alarm fire at the Plaza 34 strip mall. The fire was quickly determined to be suspicious.
Police were called to the scene just before 1 a.m. Officers and fire investigators were at the scene later in the morning inspecting the damage.
The fire was brought under control at 2:08 a.m., but crews remained at the scene overnight and into the morning working to make sure the flames were extinguished.
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Police said it’s believed that 25 units were destroyed, resulting in several million dollars in damages.
The …