Nine days after two fires destroyed several apartments in Walker County, a state fire inspector ruled one accidental while the other is still under investigation for arson.
A fire in Rossville that burned down an apartment building Labor Day morning is under investigation by local police and Georgia Insurance and Fire Safety officials.
“(We) should know in the next day or two if any charges are going to happen,” said Rossville Police Chief Sid Adams.
If you go* What: Fundraiser for Carriage Hill Apartments residents* Where: Foothills Art Gallery* Address: 309 N. Main St., LaFayette, Ga.* Time: 6:30-8:30 p.m. Thursday
The fire engulfed one of the buildings in the Woodland Apartments off Park City Road, leaving at least 21 people homeless, officials said.
State fire officials also finished an investigation on another Labor Day apartment fire, this one in LaFayette, Ga., that burned the top floor of a building.
Officials decided the fire was caused by an electrical problem in Carriage Hill apartments, said Wayne Whitaker, a spokesman for state Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner John Oxendine.
“An electrical plug in a receptacle sparked the fire,” said Bengie Clift, LaFayette assistant director of public safety. “The initial report shows (the plug) sparked on a recliner or a curtain.”
The Northwest Georgia Chapter of the American Red Cross originally helped the families whose homes were destroyed in both fires find temporary shelter.
Families from the Rossville apartments were placed in a motel for three nights and officials helped them find temporary housing, said Jeffrey Putnam, an American Red Cross director of public safety.
The seven families that were displaced in Carriage Hill were offered another apartment in the same complex, he said.
After residents in the LaFayette complex lost their homes, the community stepped in to provide food and clothing for the families, said Grace Nickerson, the apartment’s regional district manager.
Travis Hutchinson, pastor of the Highlands Presbyterian Church, said that, after seeing the flames rising from the apartment roof while he was driving by, he started making phone calls.
“We probably had 10 members show up before the firetrucks,” Hutchinson said.
Church members were able to help families get temporary relief in the church and brought meals and clothes, he said.
Vic Burgess, a church member and local musician, said he is helping host a fundraiser for the families at the Foothills Art Gallery in LaFayette on Thursday evening. Proceeds will go to Care Mission, a local organization, to further help the families, he said.
Contact Joy Lukachick at jlukachick@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6659. Follow her on twitter at twitter.com/jlukachick.