About 7:20 p.m., the emergency dispatch centre sent firefighters to investigate a reported ‘arsonist’ near the Gates Power Equipment business.
A passing motorist had reported seeing a man lighting fires along the road.
“A chap was hitchhiking from Halifax and he got as far as Marshalltown and he got cold,” deputy fire chief Ben Cleveland explained later. “He lit some paper to warm his hands and that’s what the motorist saw.”
Three fire trucks were sent in response to the alarm in case one of the nearby buildings had been involved in the uncertain report.
The hitchhiker was without money, so RCMP drove him to an all-night coffee shop where he planned to spend the night in warmth before continuing to thumb a ride to Yarmouth.
“Some locals bought him coffee,” said Cleveland.
Not arson, just cold hands
A hitchhiker’s cold hands last night resulted in an alarm that sent three Digby fire trucks racing to Hwy. 101 in Marshalltown.
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