CALHOUN, Ga. – An April explosion that leveled a three-story house, left several neighbors homeless and baffled police was done on purpose, officials say.
“I knew that, within 10 minutes of pulling up on the scene, that something wasn’t right about this,” Calhoun Fire Deputy Chief Terry Mills said Tuesday. “You don’t hear about devastation on that scale – ever.”
Charred boards and debris partially covered with tarps is still all that remains of 101 Saddle Mountain Drive, a home that exploded in April. The explosion also wrecked eight nearby homes and damaged more than 60 houses in Saddlebrook, an upscale neighborhood in Calhoun.
“I’ve never been involved with anything of this magnitude before,” Mills said. “It was kind of like CSI.”
Police initially blamed a natural gas leak for the cause, but after months of investigating, local and state police said the explosion was caused by arson and are now searching for a suspect.