Police in Cape Breton are investigating what they're calling a firebombing at a home in Whitney Pier on Saturday night.

The blast ripped through the house and lifted the back wall off of its foundation. The front wall and windows landed on the lawn, the chimney was smashed into pieces, and the furnace blown apart.

No one was injured.

There have been at least eight other structure fires in the area in the past two days, said Deputy Fire Chief Jim Driscoll.

'I heard a muffled sound and [my girlfriend] just leapt out the side door and she called over and she seen a big fireball.'—Larry Hrynick, neighbour

Cape Breton Regional Police are planning to create a permanent arson investigator position, he said.

Witnesses of the Whitney Pier fire say they heard an explosion at 219 Gunn St., about 10 p.m.

"When I ran outside, the whole thing was up in flames and it just blew, 'cause our house shook," said next-door neighbour Beverly Hemming.

"I heard a muffled sound and [my girlfriend] just leapt out the side door and she called over and she seen a big fireball," said Larry Hrynick, who lives a few doors down.

The home was fully engulfed when firefighters arrived.

"My son and my nieces and nephews could have been here this weekend. Only for it being Halloween weekend, they weren't," said Donna Matheson, whose father lived in the now-destroyed home.

He was out visiting at the time but is shaken by what could have happened, she said.

"Somebody even walking by there when this occurred could have been seriously, or fatally injured," said Staff. Sgt. Jerome Kelly.

Deputy Fire Marshal Vince Penny believes the explosion came from inside the home.

That's what it looked like to Hrynick.

"I looked at it this morning and the front part was kind of caved in, windows were blown out and whatever took the house out, it looked like it was something on the inside," he said.

"It's hard to tell, I don't know if he has propane up there, but it's all scorched on the outside, so it looks like a big ball of fire came out the front room window and just collapsed the roof."

Emergency crews also responded to house fires in Sydney Mines and New Waterford Saturday night, as well as a small fire at a school in Donkin, said Driscoll.

On Friday, two separate fires in Glace Bay destroyed a barn and a three-unit apartment building. There were also three house fires in Sydney Mines that night. Two of the homes were destroyed.

Most of the recent fires are considered suspicious, said Driscoll, who is also the manager of fire prevention.

Arson attempts usually increase around Halloween every year, but the problem is getting worse, he said.

The investigation continues.