Four blazes in a month. Burton fire district looking for causes to the structure fires
A pair of quiet unincorporated areas in Northern Beaufort County saw a total of four structure fires between the two adjacent communities in under a month. The local fire district says they have reason to believe homeless people were living in the structures before the fires, but some residents in the area don’t see the transient population as the cause.
On Thursday afternoon, the Burton Fire District responded to a fourth fire. It was located in a trailer behind a home in Seabrook. According to the fire district, it was the second fire that week and the fourth of June. Another notable fire from this month was near the intersection of Trask Parkway and Poppy Hill Road near the Marine Corp Air Station Beaufort. The early morning blaze engulfed an abandoned building and caused sizable traffic delays.
Assistant Fire Chief Daniel Byrne said four fires in a month is “on the high end of normal,” for the area. The fire district has been tracking fires where homeless people were living or staying in the structures. The district officials have been following this pattern since July of last year.
The district has recorded eight structure fires and two brush fires that meet that criteria. However, the fires seem to be unrelated. Byrne said he doesn’t believe there’s a “firebug” out there and the fires appear to be unconnected.
One resident of Grays Hill tells a different story. Jeril Simmons lives just down the street from the structure fire in the abandon building. At age 60, he has lived in the area his entire life and said he doesn’t ever see homeless people in the neighborhood. He’s pretty sure he knows how the fire started. From his bedroom window he could see the bright light from the early morning fire.
Simmons shared his thoughts about the fire’s origin, “The economy’s getting hard, tough and so they’re renting these storage buildings to live in.” He says a handful of laborers were residing in abandoned building and may have contributed to the start of the fire.
Assistant Chief Byrne, doesn’t agree with Simmon’s theory, “there was definitely indication (of) homeless in there. Absolutely, somebody was living inside that building. But have no clue if it was related.” Byrne wanted to stress that the fire district isn’t saying homeless people started these fires, just that they have reason to believe they were living in the burned structures.
Investigators were told “there may have been a caretaker staying there in the building” by a family member of the owner, but that’s the only overlap in the Simmon’s and Byrne’s accounts.
If the fire district had found any indication of an intentional fire, the sheriff’s office arson investigators would be involved.
Seabrook trailer fire
Neighbors of the trailer fire in Seabrook, across the street from Whale Branch Early College High School, say they have no idea how the trailer fire could have started. No one lived in it and it wasn’t connected to any electricity.
Neighbors along Detour Road shared serious concerns for the recent string of fires including the trailer fire near their homes. They share the concern about the frequency of the recent blazes.
This trailer fire is considered suspicious by the fire district’s leadership and is currently under investigation.
