Members of the Hoxie Fire Department have been extremely busy recently not just with the regular day to day calls expected but also with bales being set on fire and several structure fires in abandoned or unoccupied residences.
On June 19th the department was paged to a structure fire on Sullens Road at 11:56 pm. The department arrived to find an unoccupied residence engulfed in flames, firefighters extinguished the blaze. Police Chief Glen Smith was called to the scene, Smith stated the Police Department had several calls of people in and out of the residence without permission in the recent past. Smith and Fire Chief Chris Ditto are still looking into the cause of the fire.
Firefighters were called back to the residence after the structure rekindled the following morning at 7 am and again at 10:36 am. Hoxie was also called to a possible structure fire at Andrews and SW Broad on June 20th.
Hoxie Fire was also called back to the scene of the bales fire on Hwy 230 and 91 on Monday after Bono received a call stating they were burning again but firefighters did not find any fire and were back in service shortly after.
Deputies from Lawrence County along with Egypt Police have been keeping a close watch on the Hwy 230 and 91 area, according to Chief Ditto of Hoxie Fire the local law enforcement are on the lookout of a suspected arsonist believed to have set all 3 of the fires in the recent weeks.