An early-morning fire destroyed a home on the campus of New Hope Baptist Church in Fayetteville that was used for the church-sponsored Boy Scouts program, and the public is being asked for any information they may have on the incident.
There is no indication that arson is involved, but investigators want to be thorough in their search for the cause of the fire, officials said.
No one was inside the home, located off Brogdon Road east of Wills Way, when crews arrived following a 911 call at 2:48 a.m. this morning, according to Lt. Donnie Davis of Fayette County Fire and Emergency Services.
The first crews arriving seven minutes later noted that about 60 percent of the structure was on fire, Davis said. Firefighters from the City of Fayetteville assisted in the attack on the fire as a total of 17 crew members from the county and the city worked to contain the flames, Davis added.
Anyone with information on the incident is asked to call either Fayette County Fire Marshal James D. Hall at 770-305-5166 or Fayette County Sheriff’s Investigator Josh Shelton at 770-716-4777.
“Just like any fire, we’ll investigate it from A to Z,” Davis said.
Investigators sifted through the debris Wednesday afternoon to determine what caused the fire, Davis said this afternoon. According to county records, the home was built in 1965.
The 911 call came from a neighbor on Brogdon Road who heard a popping sound from the blaze, Davis said.
No firefighters were hurt while battling the flames, as it took just over an hour to get the fire under control, Davis said.
The home is located in a wooded area, but due to recent rains the area wasn’t dry enough for the fire to spread beyond the home, Davis noted. The building was used to store camping and other Scouts-related equipment and it was also used to host weekly meetings for Troop 172.
Davis said the fire was also a good reason to remind citizens to make sure the smoke detectors in their homes are working, as they have been proven to save lives.
