{"id":260300,"date":"2025-11-04T04:39:15","date_gmt":"2025-11-04T04:39:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/260300\/"},"modified":"2025-11-04T04:39:15","modified_gmt":"2025-11-04T04:39:15","slug":"blazes-in-glenora-belgravia-the-latest-fires-to-damage-edmonton-infill-homes-edmonton","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/260300\/","title":{"rendered":"Blazes in Glenora, Belgravia the latest fires to damage Edmonton infill homes – Edmonton"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Edmonton Police Service is considering the possibility two more fires at under-construction infill homes are connected to a string of arsons in established central neighbourhoods in recent weeks.<\/p>\n

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Over the weekend, firefighters were called to fires at two infills on opposites sides of the North Saskatchewan River: a blaze west of downtown in the Glenora neighbourhood, and another one along overlooking the river in the Belgravia<\/a> area.<\/p>\n

That fire at 7139 Saskatchewan Dr., where a single family skinny infill home was being built, broke out around 11:15 p.m. Sunday.<\/p>\n

Belgravia has seen three fires at under-construction homes recently and it\u2019s left 30-year resident Doug Wylie upset.<\/p>\n

Wylie was in bed already when the blaze broke out and said his wife got a text in their neighbourhood group chat about another fire.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s a little surreal,\u201d said Wylie, who said all the fires occurred with a 500-metre radius.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had three major fires taking out at least five houses,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOne is just a fire, two was weird, three is unsettling.\u201d<\/p>\n

Nobody was in the house when the fire broke out and it doesn\u2019t appear to have spread to neighbouring homes.<\/p>\n

Wylie said Belgravia is a tight-knit community and people are worried.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s causing a lot of consternation among people who we know who are building properties right now, and they\u2019re very concerned.\u201d<\/p>\n

Alyssa Lau also lives in Belgravia and has watched the west-facing infill home being built all summer along Saskatchewan Drive.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s really sad because I know that it\u2019s, like, a family who\u2019s looking to live here,\u201d Lau said, adding her family also built their new home in the neighbourhood a couple of years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf this had happened to my house I would be so, so upset. So it\u2019s been scary, all the recent fires.\u201d<\/p>\n

Builders are also scared both for their properties and their own personal security.\u00a0On Monday, Global News spoke to a builder whose identity is being protected for that reason.<\/p>\n

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\u201cScary \u2014 very uncertain about what\u2019s gonna happen,\u201d the builder said. \u201cThis shouldn\u2019t be happening. This is our home, this is my home city. Sad to see this is happening in our neighbourhood.\u201d<\/p>\n

The builder has\u00a0hired more security to protect their construction sites.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s going to incur more cost to us, but this is the environment we\u2019re in right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

The builder acknowledged the fires aren\u2019t just a financial headache that will affect insurance premiums and the cost of construction.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThey\u2019re not only impacting the builders, they are impacting the people that are going to be moving into the house, the neighbours.<\/p>\n

\u201cImagine a little kid or a family living next door \u2014 fire happens and they\u2019re capturing that. That\u2019s very, very sad.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the request of Edmonton police, the builder also placed cameras on their construction sites.<\/p>\n

The city said the blaze in Belgravia on Sunday took firefighters nearly two hours to bring under control.<\/p>\n

The weekend fires come after police on Friday said they were seeking tips and videos in a series of suspicious fires<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tString of arsons in Edmonton neighbourhoods\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

The fires, believed by investigators to be intentionally set, occurred over the past two weeks in three established communities just south of the river: King Edward Park, Strathcona and also Belgravia.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThey\u2019re targeting single family, they\u2019re targeting multi-family, they are targeting new construction infill,\u201d the builder said of the recent blazes. \u201cIt\u2019s not safe to be a neighbour of a construction project as well right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

In 2023, the City of Edmonton changed zoning bylaws to allow for more multi-unit buildings up to three storeys in all neighbourhoods. The aim was to encourage a variety of development to be built more easily in residential areas.<\/p>\n

Since then, there\u2019s been mixed reaction to the increase in multi-unit buildings replacing single-family homes.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a housing shortage in Canada,\u201d the builder said. \u201cPeople are living on the streets because there is not enough places to live. We needed more builders. We need more buildings. We need places to stay so the rents can be affordable.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTensions boil over at Edmonton City Hall during ongoing debate about infill development\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

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But not everyone welcomes changes to the look and feel of their neighbourhoods.<\/p>\n

Infill ended up being a contentious topic during the recent municipal election campaign after residents of established communities expressed concerns with property values, not enough parking, predatory developers, quality of builds and housing affordability.<\/p>\n

Some Edmonton homeowners in established, upscale areas like Crestwood and Glenora have even gone so far as to explore placing restrictive covenants on their properties<\/a> to prevent future development.<\/p>\n

The legally binding agreement goes on a property title and limits how a property is used or developed, even after it is sold to a new owner.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t1:55
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tEdmonton homeowners explore restrictive covenants to stop multi-unit builds\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

Edmonton police have not said if Sunday\u2019s fire is linked to the previous Belgravia blazes. Regardless, Wylie said he\u2019s worried for his safety.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThere\u2019s no way this is a coincidence \u2014 something really unsettling is going on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wylie said it\u2019s time for a conversation about it with city hall.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the city has to listen. Like, this could be part of the greater infill problem \u2014 who knows, maybe it\u2019s somebody who\u2019s upset?\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tTwo skinny infill homes and a neighbouring bungalow near 102 Avenue and 133 Street in the Glenora neighbourhood were damaged in a fire on Nov. 2, 2025.\t\t\t\t <\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tGlobal 1 news helicopter\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

The other fire on Sunday in the Glenora area broke out around 1:30 a.m. near 102 Avenue and 133 Street.<\/p>\n

Two nearly complete skinny homes were heavily damaged and at least one of them ended up being torn down later Sunday.<\/p>\n

A neighbouring bungalow was also damaged. No one was injured in that fire.<\/p>\n

Last spring, a 16-unit infill development was deliberately set ablaze in\u00a0Crestwood<\/a>, an affluent neighbourhood across the North Saskatchewan River from Belgravia.<\/p>\n

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That arson caused significant damage to an under-construction building that some community members had been fighting.<\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tCrestwood arson elevates fear for high-density properties in Edmonton\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\n\t\t&copy 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Edmonton Police Service is considering the possibility two more fires at under-construction infill homes are connected to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":260301,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[118568,49,48,2169,17442,51991,120670,1132,44],"class_list":{"0":"post-260300","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-canada","8":"tag-belgravia","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-crime","12":"tag-edmonton-crime","13":"tag-edmonton-fire","14":"tag-edmonton-infill","15":"tag-fire","16":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=260300"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/260300\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/260301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=260300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=260300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=260300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}