No one was injured in a Sunday evening fire at the Scarborough fire Station in Bacolet, Scarborough.
Divisional Fire Officer David Joseph- Thomas said preliminary information indicates that the male dormitory was destroyed in the fire. Damage is estimated at $500,000.
He said the fire was discovered by an off-duty fire officer at 7 pm.
"The officer went to the male dorm to retrieve an item and on entering he saw the entire dormitory engulfed in flames. It was unoccupied at the time as the officers were taking part in an activity on the southern side of the station," Joseph-Thomas said.
He said the fire "seemed to have been burning in the ceiling for a while . . . It took 25-30 minutes to extinguish it."
Joseph- Thomas said fire services resources were stretched further when they received a call about a fire at Mason Hall.
"It turned out to be false, but we had sent most of our appliances to that area to deal with that fire," he said.
There have been 16 reported house fires in the Mason Hall/Moriah area over the past four months.
On Sunday morning, villagers sprang into action when another house caught fire. They caught and handed a suspected arsonist over to the police.
The occupant of the burnt house, Clayton Morris, was taken to hospital as he appeared to be disoriented.
And in an unrelated matter, a van was seen burning in front of the fire station on Friday, just before 3 pm.
The Divisional Fire Officer told Guardian Media that contrary to popular belief, the vehicle did not catch fire in front of the station.
"It started in Bacolet and the man made a valiant effort to drive it to the station. However, all our appliances were out fighting bush fire at the time," Joseph-Thomas said.
He said fire officers used "innovative ways" to extinguish the vehicle fire.