Man hospitalized after DeKalb firefighters discover church playground burning

A man was taken to the hospital early Thursday morning after DeKalb County firefighters discovered a fire on a church playground near Stone Mountain.

A crew of firefighters was driving by Indian Creek Baptist Church near the intersection of Memorial Drive and Rockbridge Road around 4 a.m. when they noticed the blaze, DeKalb fire spokesman Capt. Jaeson Daniels told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. They responded to the blaze without being dispatched.

At the playground, crews found the equipment on fire and a man suffering from severe burns, Daniels said. The man was conscious but was rushed to the hospital before an investigator arrived at the scene, so he had not been interviewed as of Thursday morning.

Firefighters extinguished the flames, but photos from the scene showed that the playground equipment had been reduced to charred ruins.

With the investigation still in its early stages, Daniels could not provide further information about how the fire was started or how the patient came to be at the playground around 4 a.m. and was close enough to the fire to be so badly burned. Officials did not say if an accelerant was used to burn the metal and plastic equipment.

Representatives for the church have not responded to inquiries about the fire.