ROCKINGHAM — An abandoned house previously set fire to went up in flames Sunday night.
A Richmond County Sheriff’s deputy called in the fire on Mill Road around 10:30 p.m., according to Bill Bayless, chief of the East Rockingham Fire Department.
This was the third time crews responded to a call at 300 Mill Road since May 29, when a small hole was burned in the floor.
Crews from EFRD and Cordova again responded on June 27, after someone had set fire to a mattress that was brought into the house, according to Bayless.
He added that there had been reports of vagrants squatting at the house.
When both departments responded Sunday, Bayless said that the entire home was engulfed, so it was hard to tell where the fire may have started.
Bayless said all utilities had been cut off at the home.
This is at least the second vacant home that crews have responded to twice in the past two months.
The department put out a fire in the basement of a house on School Street May 24, and returned to douse a fire on the back porch June 5.
There have also been fires at several other vacant homes in the same time frame in East Rockingham.
The Richmond County Sheriff’s Office is investigating these cases.
Anyone with information about any of these fires is encouraged to call Richmond County Crime Stoppers at 910-997-5454.
