The remains of the Monday fire behind Place of Grace.
Matthew Sasser | Daily Journal
Three East Rock fires in last nine days
EAST ROCKINGHAM — A third abandoned structure in the last nine days caught fire in East Rockingham on Monday.
The vacant home that burned down Monday sat directly behind Place of Grace.
“It was all but gone when we got there,” said East Rockingham Fire Chief Bill Bayless.
Fire fighters don’t have any indication as to how this blaze started.
Bayless said if it was an occupied dwelling or a warehouse, they would be able to do more to investigate the matter. He added that the County has been “after the property owners for the longest time about it” with regard to the disrepair the building had fallen into.
“If it was an occupied dwelling, or the dwelling had furniture in, or a warehouse, you can put a whole lot more interest into it,” Bayless said.
Responding fire crews decided to let the fire burn out, and were there for about two hours.
Friday fire: Building was scheduled to be demolished
The most recent previous fire in the area came Friday morning at a building adjacent to the former Sara Lee plant on Mill Road.
Rockingham Fire Chief Harold Isler said it was a vacant building that had homeless people going in and out of the building, according to local residents.
Isler said he’s unsure of how the fire was started and that its cause listed as “undetermined” on RFD’s report. The chief added that if it was wintertime, he would guess that individuals were burning something for heat.
The damage to the building was estimated to be a total loss of $50,000. Tt was scheduled to be demolished two weeks from the day of the fire.
“Once we found out that it was set for demolition anyway, there was no need to call in, really, an arson investigator on our end,” Isler said.
The Hamlet Fire Department, Cordova Fire and the Rescue and Northside Volunteer Fire Department also responded. The Rockingham Fire Department was on the scene for five hours.
No injuries were reported, but one firefighter was sent to the hospital for heat exhaustion. That individual is doing fine, according to Isler.
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Reach Matthew Sasser at 910-817-2671 or msasser@www.yourdailyjournal.com.
