Arson suspected in fire at abandoned house

By John Howell
(On Thursday morning an unnamed contractor who had obtained a dumpster from Panola County Solid Waste to begin, without an inspection for asbestos, final demolition and removal of the charred structure’s remains was stopped by Burdette who summoned Panola County Emergency Management Director Daniel Cole.
Cole immediately confirmed the presence of asbestos in shingles that had covered the structure’s exterior, both stacked nearby and strewn in broken pieces mixed in the burned debris.  Cole contacted Jonathan Wiley of Panola County Solid Waste who arrived on the scene and arranged for the dumpster to be removed. Further removal of debris is stopped pending MDEQ inspection.)

An abandoned house on Como’s Cherry Street that owners were seeking to have burned by the fire department for a training exercise became more of a problem following an arson fire that partially destroyed the structure, the town’s mayor and aldermen learned Tuesday.
Mayor Everette Hill, Alderwomen Rachel Powell, Tonia Heard and Teresa Dishmon and Alderman John Walton and Como citizens who attended the October 4 meeting heard Police Chief Earl Burdette describe a disabled neighbor’s fear that she would have been unable to escape the blaze if it spread to her house.
“The house was set afire by somebody that was cold-hearted, not caring, not compassionate, and I’m going to leave it at that,” Como Police Chief Earl Burdette said.
“Whoever went over there and set that house afire, set that house afire with that lady in there (next door) … That lady could have burned alive,” Burdette said.
“Her house was damaged … it busted two of the lady’s windows out; it melted the side of her house and it damaged her roof,” Burdette said.
The police chief said that the resident was concerned that the fire department did not extinguish the fire, but “allowed the house to burn. They sprayed water on her house and did not try to extinguish the house next door. She asked me why didn’t they put it out because the embers and everything were still blowing,” Burdette said.
“If I’ve got to offer a reward out of my own pocket to figure out who set this house afire, I will do it. The reward will be based on information,” Burdette said.
During an August meeting, Fire Chief Randy Perkins asked the mayor and aldermen about a request from Cherry Street M.B. Church, which owns the abandoned house, that firemen be allowed to burn the structure in a controlled setting for training purposes. The mayor and board took the request under advisement to allow City Attorney Revonda Griffin time to research Como’s liability if it allowed the request.
Griffin later provided a letter stating conditions for burning the house that included an inspection to determine asbestos presence in the structure. Asbestos abatement by an Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality approved contractor would be required if the material had been used in the building materials, Griffin’s letter stated.
Additionally, the top layer of soil under the house would have to be removed to an approved landfill, Griffin’s letter stated further.
“Now it still needs to be demolished and the three to four inches of topsoil need to be hauled away because otherwise it may wash to someone else’s property,” Griffin said.
“The property owner needs to cordon that area off?” Burdette asked.
“It would be my suggestion to the board that they get into contact with the property owner and give them a time frame for demolishing and removing the property properly. If they don’t in a timely fashion, then the board could go ahead and do it and then charge them,” Griffin said.
“So it went from being somebody’s problem to being a health hazard?” Burdette asked.
“A very high possibility,” Griffin said.
Town officials took no immediate action following the remarks by Burdette and Griffin.
Following Thursday’s action, Burdette acknowledged that “a few people in the community are already mad about it (the work stoppage), but the overall safety of the community outweighs that.”