Another Rash of Fires

North Bay teen on port-a-potty hot seat

Posted By JENNIFER HAMILTON-McCHARLES, Sun MEDIA

NORTH BAY — A teenager is in hot water after North Bay police charged him with arson in a rash of recent portable potty fires.

The teenager was arrested Wednesday afternoon following a tip at 2 p. m. that led officers to a dumpster fire behind Chippewa Secondary School.

The tipster provided a description of a young man spotted at the scene.

Const. Merv Shantz, traffic enforcement officer, said police and North Bay Fire and Emergency Services went to the dumpster fire and crews had it under control quickly.

Shantz said police believe the teen is also responsible for setting fires in four portable potties around the city in the last month.

Shane VanDussen, 18, of Franklin Street is charged with five counts of arson -- one set in the dumpster and four previous outhouse fires.

He was held in custody awaiting a bail hearing.

Shantz applauded the tipster for calling police and providing a description.

The portable washrooms have been a target of vandalism in the last month.

Most recently a blue plastic outhouse was set on fire Monday near Chippewa Secondary School. It's no longer usable.

Two toilets at Thomson Park and one at West Ferris Arena were also hit.

Two or three of the blue plastic outhouses sustained significant damage and will have to be replaced by the City of North Bay, which has leased 15 of the units for the summer.

The cost of replacing each toilet is $1,000.

The city puts the washrooms in area parks and on fields where permits have been purchased for sporting events.

City officials have said it's a convenience for the public that they don't want to stop providing.

The city and owners of K&T Port-A-John Rentals in Callander said previously that the washrooms have never sustained as much damage as they have this year.

The worst that happened to them in previous years is they would be tipped over.

It's annoying and upsetting when you run a business and your property is damaged," K&T co-owner Dianne Seguin said earlier in the week.