Atlanta crews fight ‘suspicious’ fire at vacant apartment complex

Firefighters battled a “suspicious” two-alarm blaze at a vacant apartment complex in southwest Atlanta on Wednesday, officials said.

Multiple crews from the Atlanta Fire Department were sent to the abandoned complex in the 1900 block of Alison Court after heavy smoke was reported coming from the buildings, spokesman Sgt. Cortez Stafford said.

The fire department received the call about 10:20 a.m., he said. At first, a caller reported two individual apartment units were on fire, but when crews arrived they found that multiple units were ablaze in two different buildings.

“It is uncommon that two separate buildings catch on fire at the same time, so this fire is suspicious,” Stafford said.

Two separate buildings were on fire when crews arrived.

Stafford said it took fire crews nearly an hour to get the flames under control at the first building. The fire in the second building was harder to extinguish because the flames spread to the attic, he said.

The apartments were vacant at the time, Stafford said. However, crews checked every unit to ensure no one was inside, he said.

No injuries were reported.

Arson investigators were at the scene looking into the cause of the fire. A man and woman were temporarily detained for questioning but they have been released, Stafford said.