An "unprecedented" number of house fires has left two families displaced and is stretching the Six Nations of the Grand River community fire services to its limit.&nbsp;

Five homes have been on fire over the past nine days in the First Nations reserve, the Six Nations Fire and Emergency Service Department said.

The families have lost their homes and a significant number of personal belongings, the department said.&nbsp;

A number of the fires were being investigated as suspicious, but so far no correlation could be established between the fires, Fire Chief Matthew Miller told media Wednesday.&nbsp;

'Such a tragic event': Six Nations chief mourns 3-year-old killed in house fire

A three-year-old boy found trapped under a bed in a burning house on Six Nations was pronounced dead in hospital Friday morning.

Six Nations Fire crew assessing the scene of a two-storey house fire in Ohsweken. 

Six Nations Fire Ohsweken

Six Nations Fire crew assess the scene of a house fire in Ohsweken, a village on the Six Nations of the Grand River reserve, on Friday. 

"The house fires which have occurred in such a short period of time is an unprecedented situation," Miller said. &nbsp;

The increased demand on the service had left firefighters "in a constant state of exhaustion with no adequate time to recover physically and mentally," he said.

The fire department had been left with a significantly reduced number of firefighters and capacity to attend emergencies, the fire chief said.&nbsp;

"It's really difficult as a fire chief to come out and admit we can't provide the service we are relied upon for."

'The system is broken,' Ontario First Nations firefighters say of fire protection in Indigenous communities

The head of an Ontario organization representing firefighters in Indigenous communities says the current system that dictates how fire protection is handled in First Nations is woefully inadequate and needs to be rebuilt.

Six Nations fire department Chief Matthew Miller says a tragedy similar to the Pikangikum fire happened 50 years ago in Parry Island reserve of the Six Nations. 

Matthew Miller

Matthew Miller is the fire chief for the Six Nations Of The Grand River and the president of the Ontario Native Firefighters Society.

Under normal conditions, the brigade would have 10 to 20 First Nations firefighters available to respond, but it was now reduced to approximately four, he said.&nbsp;

A burnt out shell of a house along Cayuga Road. 

Cayuga Rd Burnt house

A number of the out-of-town brigades&nbsp;were wary&nbsp;to assist due to a six-week protest outside&nbsp;the Six Nations Central Administration building, Miller said.&nbsp;

"The honest truth is if the protest wasn't here we could have firefighters from the neighbouring municipalities here assisting us."

However, some mutual aid fire services&nbsp;were assisting the Six Nations community but response time could be up to 11 minutes longer, a spokesperson for the First Nations Emergency Control Group said in a statement.&nbsp;

"As a result, public safety is at a heightened risk, and the probability of another fire is high," the group said.&nbsp;

Fundraising efforts have been started to assist both of the households.&nbsp;

Six Nations fire department Chief Matthew Miller says the increase in fires had left the service in a constant state of exhaustion with no adequate time to recover physically and mentally.

Six Nations Fire Chief Matthew Miller 

One of five house set on fire over the past 9 days in the Six Nations community. 

5 house fires in 9 days leave Six Nations firefighters exhausted and scrambling

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