Fire consumes another tow truck in Brampton; police say it’s arson

Another tow truck has gone up in flames in Brampton and police say they’re investigating the latest in a string of such incidents as an arson.

Peel Regional Police told INsauga.com officers responded to the latest tow truck fire early Sunday morning in the area of Rutherford Road South and Orenda Road.

“The incident is being investigated as an arson and it occurred between 2:45 and 4:45 a.m.,” a police spokesperson said, adding investigators have no information on suspects at the moment.

No injuries were reported as a result of the blaze, which occurred in the same area where two heavy tow trucks and another two vehicles were damaged/destroyed by fire early on Jan. 13.

In that incident, police said earlier, the vehicles were set ablaze at a business on Rutherford Road South, near Orenda Road, at around 3:15 a.m.

Surveillance video footage showed two people pouring gasoline on and around two heavy tow trucks located inside a business parking lot, investigators said in January.

Police didn’t say if this morning’s tow truck fire happened at the exact same location as the Jan. 13 blaze.

Map shows general area in Brampton where tow trucks have been set on fire in recent months. The latest blaze happened early Sunday morning.

The mid-January fire was the second involving tow trucks that month in Brampton.

On Jan. 5, multiple tow trucks burned in the Rutherford Road and Glidden Road area of the city. Four to five people were spotted fleeing the scene in that incident, according to police.

Tow truck fires in Brampton, and in other parts of the Greater Toronto Area including Mississauga, have become somewhat regular occurrences.

In the early hours of April 30, police said, a tow truck was deliberately set on fire in the driveway of a Brampton home, marking the continuation at the time of a weeks-long surge of incidents believed to be tied to escalating conflicts within the towing industry.

That fire broke out just before 3 a.m. on Kingknoll Drive, near McLaughlin Road South and Steeles Avenue West.

No injuries were reported, but the truck sustained extensive damage.

Police have not released any suspect information in that case. In many of the incidents, descriptions have been limited to individuals dressed in dark clothing and wearing masks — details that have done little to advance investigations.

The April 30 incident followed a string of similar fires. Earlier that week, police responded to a tow truck fire on Ascot Road in Brampton, while on April 21 arson was confirmed in four separate tow truck fires at three locations across the city.

READ MORE: Tow truck turf wars believed to be behind arson fires in Brampton

Other incidents have also been reported in neighbouring municipalities, including Mississauga earlier in April, Burlington in February and multiple cases in Brampton in January.

While Peel Regional Police have not publicly confirmed a connection to organized turf disputes, sources indicate investigators are examining whether the fires are linked to ongoing conflicts between rival towing operators.

The violence has also extended beyond arson. In recent months, there have been reports of gunfire targeting businesses, assaults on drivers and even homicides linked to the industry. Incidents have been reported across Peel, York, Durham and Halton regions, as well as in Toronto.

Police have launched several major investigations to combat the crimes.

In 2024, Peel Regional Police’s Project Outsource targeted a criminal network involved in extortion, staged collisions and violence tied to the towing industry in Brampton. Nineteen people were arrested, and millions of dollars in assets were seized.

Earlier, a Toronto Police investigation dubbed Project Yankee resulted in multiple arrests, including suspects facing murder charges, in what investigators described as efforts by criminal groups to gain control of the towing sector through violence.

More recently, Peel police seized tow trucks and arrested 18 individuals last June as part of an extortion probe. In December, three people were arrested in connection with a tow truck-related shooting in Brampton.

— with files from Steve Pecar and Karen Longwell