An East Rockingham house that was set to be revitalized under a federal block grant caught fire Sunday night. The structure was unoccupied at the time; no civilians or firefighters were injured.

ERFD Chief Mitchell Watson said no cause has been determined. An investigation of the Seaboard Street property has been handed over to the Richmond County Sheriff’s Department and the State Bureau of Investigation as standard procedure.

Retired ERFD firefighter Harold Dawkins, who was on the scene with the department as a fire photographer Sunday night, said the call came in around 10:50 p.m. and responders were there until almost 1 a.m. According to Dawkins there were about 20 men on the scene from ERFD and Cordova Fire Department (via mutual response). Dawkins said that the structure could very well be a “total loss.”

“You can tell by any of the pictures it started up high up in attic area, and when we got on scene it broke up through roof,” said Dawkins. “It did some real extensive damage to the roof, and the inside was gutted too.”

According to City of Rockingham Community Development Director Sandy Ridley, the house is part of an 18-unit Community Revitalization Project area, which was made possible by Housing and Urban Development grant money released to the city in the first quarter of 2008.

Ridley said the ongoing, neighborhood-based project will eventually bring the 12 homes and six rental properties included in that East Rockingham enclave up to par through renovation and revitalization of the homes themselves - plus water lines, sewer lines and streets.

The recent fire will not impact the rest of the revitalization area, as Ridley said no other properties were damaged. The property in question, which Ridley said was intended as a rental, was in the very early stages of renovation.

“We had really just signed the contractor last week. He had put a new roof on it, but that’s about all,” said Ridley. “It’s owned by an individual, so we need to meet with him and see what kind of insurance he had on it - and then meet with the contractor to see if it is salvageable and what can be done.

“At least no one was hurt.”

According to Watson, a house fire on Battley Dairy Road also suffered severe damage Friday night. The residents were out of town at the time, and no one was injured. Watson said firefighters from Hamlet, Cordova and East Rockingham fought the blaze from approximately 8 p.m. to 1 a.m. The origin remains unknown.

That fire will also be investigated by the Sheriff’s Department and S.B.I.

“The cause hasn’t been determined yet due to the fact that the debris was so hot; they (investigators) weren’t able to dig through and get to it,” said Watson.

“If we can’t determine the cause or we have a suspicion, that doesn’t mean that we think it was arson. It’s standard procedure for us to turn it over for investigation.”