Early morning fire results in arson charge
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on December 27, 2016 10:43 AM
News-Argus/SETH COMBS
A fire at 608 W. Mulberry St. is believed to have originated in a dresser located inside the home.
Police arrested and charged a man with felony first-degree arson after he allegedly set fire to furniture inside a house at 608 W. Mulberry St. early this morning.
According to a police report, Donzell Crawford, 64, used a lighter to set fire to a dresser in a bedroom on the west side of the house around 3:30 a.m. today.
After one of the people inside the home thought they were able to put out the fire, it reignited and burned the room and ceiling of the house causing an estimated $5,000 in damages, the report said.
According to a fire report on the incident, the fire was confined to the bedroom.
Assistant Goldsboro Fire Chief Eric Lancaster said investigators currently believe Crawford set fire to a towel lying on top of the dresser, causing the dresser to catch.
"It appeared to have started on or around the top of the dresser and there was a v-pattern burn pointing right back down to the dresser," Lancaster said.
Goldsboro firefighters arrived on the scene at 3:25 a.m. and extinguished the fire, clearing the scene around an hour after they arrived, the fire report said.
Lancaster said the people living in the house were able to go back inside once firefighters removed the dresser and cleared the smoke, and were not displaced.
"It was very minor damage," Lancaster said.
Crawford is being held in the Wayne County Jail on a $200,000 secured bond.
His first appearance in court is Wednesday.
Maj. Anthony Carmon, head of the Goldsboro Police Department's Investigative Services Bureau, said police do not have a motive for why Crawford allegedly set the fire.