The neighbors don’t think the fires that destroyed a pair of mobile homes were an accident – neither does the Caldwell County Fire Marshal.
Fire Marshal Robbie Wilkie has announced that the Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office is searching for suspects in the most recent fire to break out at 4779 Rock Creek Circle. Neighbors reported the fire just before 2 a.m. on Friday morning. Investigators think the trailer fire is related to a fire that destroyed a second trailer on the property about two weeks ago.
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Tim Annis lives across the street from the two burned-out trailers in the Grace Chapel area of Caldwell County. He was the man who called 911 to report the first fire after he spotted flames at about 11:30 p.m. on June 24.
“I saw really bad smoke and when I kept looking, I saw fire,” Annis said. “By the time the firefighters got here it was fully-involved.”
The blaze gutted the trailer.
“The flames were mostly coming up out of the roof in the middle,” said Gail Hilton who lives beside the burned trailers. “I sat out on the porch and watched it burn.”
The second fire burned for a longer time before it was called in. That’s why the second trailer was almost leveled and the first one still has its exterior walls up, Annis said.
Both of the homes were rental property owned by Ronald Franklin of South Carolina. Both trailers were vacant at the time of the fires. Neither trailer had electricity when they burned.
Neighbors suspected that drug dealing or other activities were being conducted in the homes before the tenants were evicted – but the possible arson was unexpected.
“I didn’t think they would set the house on fire, and I was shocked when the second one burned,” Annis said, adding that Rock Creek Circle is a peaceful neighborhood where neighbors treat each other with respect.
Hilton said the people who rented Franklin’s trailers had worked hard to improve them. They’d put in new floors and waterlines while keeping their yards nicer than Franklin ever had. But she, too, was worried that illegal activities may have been happening there.
“I hate that he lost his trailers, but he should have known the kind of people he had in there,” she said. “If he wants to sell that land, I’d consider buying it so I could decide who lives there.”
Anyone with information about the fires is asked to call the Caldwell County Fire Marshal’s Office at 757-1280.
