Pair accused in Norfolk arson spree head back to court

J.P. Antonacci

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

It has been nearly a year since a pair of Norfolk County men were charged with setting 11 fires during a months-long arson spree that rattled the rural community.

Chad Reimer, 43, and Matthew Smith, 30, were arrested the night of Jan. 26, 2025.

They were pulled over because their pickup truck matched the description of a vehicle seen leaving the scene of a barn fire on Lynn Valley Road, east of Port Dover, earlier that evening.

The pair were charged with 11 counts of arson.

Four of their alleged crimes — burning down a greenhouse north of Delhi, a vacant house north of Waterford, a barn on Teeterville Road and the barn on Lynn Valley Road — happened in January, continuing a string of dangerous fires that started in November 2024, and taxed the county’s volunteer fire department.

Reimer was released on bail in February, while Smith was granted bail in April.

Both accused were ordered to wear GPS monitors and live under strict bail conditions at the home of a relative — Reimer in Port Rowan and Smith near Fort Erie.

Reimer and Smith had pretrial hearings scheduled for Jan. 12 in Simcoe.

No civilians, firefighters or livestock were injured during the alleged arson spree. Police have not publicly shared how the two men knew each other or commented on their alleged motive.

Norfolk’s fire department dealt with six cases of arson to start 2025.

Along with the four aforementioned incidents, an abandoned house west of Port Rowan was torched on Jan. 19 and a gas station at Highway 24 and Forestry Farm Road was set on fire just after midnight on Jan. 22, forcing residents of an attached home to flee the flames.

No charges have been laid in connection with those two fires.

Many fires preventable: fire department

Norfolk’s fire department responded to approximately 1,100 calls in 2025, and fire officials said “roughly half” could have been prevented.

The department posted end-of-year statistics on social media, saying the 22 structure fires Norfolk firefighters doused in 2025 — including one in the early hours of New Year’s Eve — were mainly caused by faulty electrical devices, unsafe welding operations, and open-air burning.

“Misuse of electrical in homes, shops and outbuildings continues to be the leading cause of structure fires in Norfolk,” fire officials said. “If it’s not working right, stop using it.”

The department dealt with 11 “contents fires,” which are fires that are extinguished before they can spread to the surrounding structure.

“Contents fires decreased this year, but the leading causes are still the same — unattended cooking and device malfunction,” fire officials said. 

More fields and grassland in Norfolk burned up in 2025 compared to the previous year, with 20 open-air fires resulting in the preventable loss of crops and woodlots, the fire department reported.

“Tossing a (cigarette) butt out the window can have devastating results,” fire officials said.

Uncontrolled open-air burning also sparked grass fires in 2025, as did letting machinery idle in tall grasses, as the exhaust from the vehicles heated the dry grass. The past year saw 29 fires classified as “other,” a category that includes car fires, fires in garbage bins and collection trucks caused by discarded lithium-ion batteries, unattended barbecues going up in flames, and embers from carelessly tossed cigarettes that set fences and even lawn mowers on fire.

Norfolk’s fire department also responds to vehicle accidents, medical distress calls, and fire and carbon monoxide detector calls, many of which end up being false alarms.

Norfolk fire calls by the numbers

Total calls in 2025: approximately 1,100

Structure fires: 22

Contents fires: 11

Field/grass fires: 20

“Other” fires: 29

Leading fire causes: malfunctioning electronics and appliances, discarded lithium-ion batteries, careless smoking, unattended cooking and barbecues, and open-air burning.

- J.P. Antonacci is a Local Journalism Initiative Reporter based at the Hamilton Spectator. The initiative is funded by the Government of Canada.