The Hamlet Fire Chief said Monday a recent rash of arson cases may not only be confined to Dobbins Heights, and may be connected to multiple cases in and around Hamlet over the past month.

His comments come after the city’s fire department responded to another brush fire set in Dobbins Heights Sunday.

With one person in custody, the investigations into the mysterious arson cases are continuing.

Brandon “B” Goldston, 34, of Old River Road in Rockingham, was taken into custody last week on two charges of burning an uninhabited dwelling, but there are at least 10 other cases in the area that he has not been linked to.

Goldston remains in the Richmond County Jail under a $50,000 bond as of Monday at press time.

There has also been a structure fire and a brush fire in Dobbins Heights since he was taken into custody.

Fire Chief David Knight explained it was a week ago Monday when the Dobbins Heights fires started occurring with a fire in the woods off of a Dobbins Heights residential street. A vacant home was then set on fire late that night.

“I think this latest fire was in the same area where we had the first one a week ago, so I feel confident it was a set fire,” Knight said. “Our department responded, the (Richmond County) Sheriff’s Office responded and the North Carolina Forestry Service responded.”

Knight said the Sunday flames engulfed about a half an acre, but looked worse than it was because of old tires and other rubbish in the fire.

“It put off a lot of black smoke, but it really wasn’t that big at all,” he said. “It just burned a lot of trash.”

While the tally is now seven structure fires and two brush fires in Dobbins Heights in the past week, Knight said the cases have been happening for about a month.

“We’ve had at least four structures in the city limits of Hamlet that burned over the past four weeks,” Knight said. “None of them had electricity hooked up to them.”

He also said there were “a couple of cases” his department responded to outside of city and town limits.

He also said the State Bureau of Investigation has come to investigate several of them.

“I don’t know what kind of thrill a person gets from starting fires,” Knight said. “I don’t know why they do it.”

Dobbins Heights Mayor Antonio Blue said the people of Dobbins Heights remain concerned, despite the arrest of Goldston.

“They were relieved (to have someone in custody), but then there was another fire, and ... I understand there was a fire subsequent to that,” Blue said. “So people are really concerned about this situation.”

Staff Writer Philip D. Brown can be reached at (910) 997-3111 ext. 32, or by e-mail at pbrown@yourdailyjournal.com.