Updated: Sun Feb. 22 2009 5:29:32 PM

ctvtoronto.ca

An early-morning fire has destroyed a group of Mississauga townhouses near Burnhamthorpe Road East and Ponytrail Drive.

It is the third time in less than a week that a construction site in the west end has caught on fire.

Const. Wayne Patterson of Peel Regional Police told ctvtoronto.ca the townhouses were "fully engulfed in flames" when emergency crews were called to the scene at around 1:45 a.m. on Sunday morning. It took about an hour to extinguish the blaze.

The townhouses were still under construction, Patterson said, and the fire damaged eight townhouse units. There are about 20 units in the complex.

He said the fire will be treated as suspicious until proven otherwise.

Mike Head, platoon chief with Mississauga Fire Emergency Services, told ctvtoronto.ca that the units were about 60 per cent complete.

"It's suspicious because the units were unoccupied and there was no hydro connected to the units so there was nothing to ignite the fire," he said Sunday afternoon.

An investigator with the Fire Marshal's Office agreed, telling reporters at the scene that "there's nothing in there accidentally that caused this fire."

The FMO, Peel police and MFES are still at the scene, surveying the damage, which is estimated to be at around $1 million, Head said.

The developer of the project said they will rebuild the homes.

"It's not something we wanted to see happen but we'll rebuild and get past it," Julien Diciano, with Dunpar Homes Inc., told CTV Toronto.

The fire also damaged Rogers cables that provide Internet and Internet phone service to area residents.

More than 400 customers living in the area bordered by Bough Beeches Boulevard, Ponytrail Drive, Etobicoke Creek and Fieldgate Drive were affected.

Workers were on the scene all day repairing the damage but customers will likely not see a return of their services any earlier than Sunday afternoon.

Last week, Peel police investigated two separate incidents in Brampton. Two residential construction sites, just blocks away from each other caught on fire, destroying a row of homes.

Authorities say they suspect the fires were caused by an arsonist but can't confirm if there is a link between the three incidents.

"Right now it's just another set of townhouses, same set of circumstances, but right now there's nothing to suggest that they're linked or anything like that," said Mike Ross with the OFM.

With a report from CTV Toronto's Ken Regular