Nine trucks, five yards, one pattern: the tow-truck fires are connected
Investigators say the arsons that have burned nine tow trucks across the region since spring are linked — and tied to a fight over collision-scene territory.
The fires have followed a pattern: after midnight, one truck at a time, accelerant, no injuries. Nine tow trucks have burned in five different yards across Peel since April, and investigators confirmed this week what operators have assumed since the third one — the fires are connected, and they are about territory.
The territory in question is the collision scene. Under the current first-come dispatch system, the tow that reaches a crash first gets the job, the storage fees, and the repair referral that follows — a chain of revenue that can turn a single highway collision into thousands of dollars. Where the province has piloted regulated tow zones, the burn rate on trucks has dropped. Peel's pilot application is still in the queue.
Operators who spoke to the Bulletin — none of whom would be named, for reasons the nine burned trucks make self-explanatory — describe an industry where legitimate businesses are being squeezed between insurers who suspect every invoice and competitors who negotiate with jerry cans.
The investigation continues, and the regional police board has asked for a report on accelerating the tow-zone application. The Bulletin's courts desk will follow both files: the one that ends in charges, and the one that ends in a dispatch system where being first no longer means being flammable.
