State Police investigating suspicious fire

Published 12:19 pm Wednesday, September 9, 2015

 

 

ARVONIA — Arson investigators with the Virginia State Police are looking into the cause of a massive brush fire involving a vehicle reported early Wednesday morning in the 11000 block of Bridgeport Road in Buckingham.

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According to Steve Toney, a second lieutenant with the Arvonia Vol. Fire Department, the fire was located about a half-mile off of U.S. Route 15 near Arvonia. It was reported at about 4:55 a.m.

Toney considers the fire suspicious in nature.

The brush pile that caught fire, located on vacant cutover property, was about 100-feet-long, 40-feet-wide and 30-feet high, Toney said.

“We tried to put foam on it [and] tried to put water on it. We probably ended up putting probably 6-7,000 gallons [of water] on it,” Toney said.

While firefighters were battling the massive blaze, they discovered a car also on fire, which prompted the arson investigation.

“State Police are still investigating the cause and origin of a fire that destroyed a 2007 Infiniti,” State Police spokeswoman Corinne Geller said. “The Infiniti was found in a clear-cut logging area approximately 25 yards off of [Bridgeport Road]. There was nobody with or inside the vehicle at the time the fire was discovered,” she said.

State Police are asking anyone with information about the vehicle fire or who may have seen anyone coming or going from the location between midnight and 6 a.m. to call 1-800-552-0962 or email questions@vsp.virginia.gov. The incident remains under investigation, Geller said.

The property was cut about two years ago, Toney said.

No one was injured in the blaze.

Volunteers from Dillwyn Fire Department also responded to the scene.

The original story has been revised to include new information.