Wednesday, June 9, 2004

South Fayette residence burns to ground overnight Blaze labeled suspicious, but no one was home at time The home of a former Fayette County commissioner burned completely to the ground early Friday morning, according to fire officials. No one was injured during the blaze at Charlie Mask’s residence at 662 McBride Road, which started sometime after midnight and wasn’t reported until after 7 a.m., said Fayette County Fire Marshal David Scarbrough. When the first fire crew arrived on the scene, they found just the chimney and one wall still standing, Scarbrough said. “It was basically nothing but ashes and coals left,” Scarbrough said. The fire is being labeled “suspicious” in nature and is under investigation, Scarbrough said. “We are following up on some leads,” Scarbrough said, adding that some activity took place at the home before the fire, but he couldn’t say exactly what because of the nature of the investigation. “... We’re looking at all the possibilities.” Mask was in Fayetteville when the fire broke out and he came to the scene after 8 a.m., Scarbrough said. Mask told fire officials his sister, who lives in the area,Êhad called him to tell him about the fire, Scarbrough said. Firefighters originally believed that a woman who lived in the basement of the home was killed in the blaze, but it was later determined that she was incarcerated in the Spalding County Jail, Scarbrough said. There was heavy fog in the area overnight when the fire occurred which could have shielded the view of the smoke plume from motorists passing by on nearby Ga. Highway 85, Scarbrough said. The house is not hidden from view on McBride Road and is not out of the eyesight of other homes in the area, the fire marshal added. “It’s a bit strange that we got no reports” of the fire, Scarbrough said, adding that no phone calls were made to the county’s emergency 911 center, the sheriff’s department or non-emergency numbers. “Nobody got anything.” Mask served one term on the county commission in the 1980s.