Mobile home fire called suspicious

March 07, 2003

CHARLES TOWN, W.Va. - Charles Town-area firefighters battled a fire in a vacant mobile home Thursday night that officials said may be the result of arson.

Ed Smith, chief of Independent Fire Co., said the alarm came in at 8:15 p.m. The last unit left the scene at 9:30 p.m.

Damage was estimated at around $5,000, Smith said. About half of the mobile home was destroyed.

The mobile home was on Fifth Avenue behind the Finish Line restaurant across from Charles Town Races & Slots, Smith said.

He said the cause has been listed as suspicious.

It's the second time this week that a vacant mobile home in the Tri-State area may have fallen victim to arson.

Fire investigators in Marion, Pa., said a fire Monday morning that destroyed a mobile home is believed to have been set.

Pennsylvania State Police Fire Marshal Skip Sydnor said the 10:45 a.m. blaze in the mobile home in the 2800 block of Guilford Springs Road was being investigated as arson.

The mobile home was locked and the electrical service was not hooked up, police said.

Witnesses said they saw a white male about 18 years old running from the scene at the time the fire broke out.

The damage to that mobile home also was estimated at $5,000.

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