Police, fire departments investigating string of house fires in Columbia community
Columbia’s police and fire departments are investigating a string of house fires that occurred this month in the Booker-Washington Heights neighborhood.
No one was injured in the home fires that burned two vacant homes on May 23 and May 26 and an occupied duplex on May 26.
The Columbia Police Department said in a news release Thursday afternoon that while the fires happened in close proximity to one another, the agency cannot say whether the fires are connected or whether they were intentionally set, and the investigation is still in its early stages.
On Sunday, May 23, at about 7:30 p.m., a Columbia officer patrolling the area responded to a vacant home on Carver Street when they saw thick, black smoke. Firefighters immediately responded, but the home was damaged by the fire. A press release said it is unknown what the estimated damage is to the home.
Then shortly before 9 a.m. on Wednesday, May 26, officers and firefighters responded to a call about smoke coming out of a home on High Circle, where a fire had broken out. The Columbia Police Department said their investigation shows the fires might have several places of origin, and an estimated damage cost is $50,000.
That same day at about 1:45 p.m., police and fire crews were called back again to the neighborhood to an occupied duplex on Beaumont Street. No one was at home at the time of the fire that occurred in one room on one side of the home, police said.
The estimated cost of damage is $50,000, police said.
These house fires were not the first time police have responded to similar incidents in the community.
Police responded to the neighborhood a handful of times in 2018 when another string of home fires broke out, causing damage.
Anyone with information is encouraged to call CRIMESTOPPERS at 888-CRIME-SC, or log on to midlandscrimestoppers.com and click on the red “Submit a tip” tab.
