A fire at a former pheasant farm in Salem is being investigated as suspicious, officials said.
Wednesday afternoon's blaze at the old Bourdeau Pheasant Farm was the third fire that has occurred on the property this year, Salem's Deputy Fire Marshal Roy Shaefer said. The other two were brush fires. Shaefer did not know when exactly those other fires occurred.
The property is owned by Salem Fire Marshal Donald Bourdeau Jr., who recused himself from the investigation. He also works as the public works director for Montville.
Shaefer said since there was no electricity on that property, it was unlikely the fire was accidental.
"There were multiple areas that were burned," Shaefer said. And in cases where a fire was intentionally set multiple burn areas are often found, he said.
There were no injuries reported during Wednesday's fire, but the blaze did heavy damaged to a 75-foot chicken coop.
The chicken coop at Bourdeau's Pheasant Farm on Old Colchester Road in Salem had no birds inside at the time of the fire and no one was home at the time. A passerby traveling past the farm on Old Colchester Road noticed the blaze and called it in.
Bourdeau who was on scene Wednesday said the property hasn't been used as a pheasant farm for some time and all of the coops on the 75-acre farm have been empty since last year.