Suspicious fires investigated

Rocky Mount firefighters summoned state investigators Tuesday to assist in the probe of two suspicious fires that have ripped through downtown buildings in recent days.

The latest fire, reported around 2 a.m. Tuesday, gutted an office building on the 500 block of North Raleigh Street. Both the office space and a vacant warehouse that was destroyed by fire Saturday were owned by E.C. Powell, owner of Nashcombe Realty.

“This investigation is really just developing,” Fire Chief Keith Harris said. “The fact that those two buildings were under the same ownership was enough to raise a possible connection.”

Fire crews were on scene throughout the morning, dousing the smoldering Raleigh Street building. A fire expert with the N.C. State Bureau of Investigation visited the scene along with an accelerant-sniffing dog to determine if gasoline or another flammable substance was used to start the fires.

The Raleigh Street fire seemed to start in the rear of the building in an area used to store building supplies, Fire Marshal Phillip Davis said.

“We’re still investigating to determine the exact point of origin and cause of the fire,” Davis said.

The state investigator also looked into the warehouse at 811 S. Church St., which caught fire Saturday morning. The results of those investigations were not released Tuesday.

The Church Street warehouse was vacant and without power at the time of the fire, raising suspicions among investigators.

Authorities have yet to rule either fire the work of arson, and the causes of both fires remain unknown.

Fire crews worked throughout Tuesday morning to squelch the Raleigh Street Fire, Harris said, successfully preventing the fire from spreading to adjacent buildings.