at ready for local home fire investigation

The Mississippi Fire Marshal’s office, ATF and FBI assisted Warren County officials Thursday with an investigation of Tuesday night’s fire at the home of a black family in a white residential area.

Mississippi Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney is also state fire marshal and a Vicksburg resident. He said a flammable liquid placed in a container under the mobile home ignited insulation and “it appears to be an arson.”

After being at 89 Sally Willis Road for three months, Kenny and Lawanda Smith, who rent one of the eight homes on  the road, reported the fire Tuesday night.

Kenny Smith and John Hill, owner of the property off Sherman Avenue near the Vicksburg National Military Park, believe the fire was based on race, but Smith said he has not heard anyone say that they wanted him out of his home.

“I haven’t done anything to anyone here. I don’t have any enemies,” he said.

James Morris, the resident agent in charge of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, said he was not sure if the “attempted firebombing” was racially motivated, but ATF is assisting “in case it turns out to be a civil rights violation.”

Warren County Sheriff Martin Pace said his department has drawn no conclusions in the investigation and, “We routinely work all suspicious fires with the state fire marshal’s office.

“In this particular case, we notified the ATF and FBI,” he said.

Lawanda Smith and her five children, ages 1 to 17, left for Texas after the fire, Kenny Smith said. The couple is in the middle of a separation, and she had planned before the fire to leave the state, he said.

Smith said he did not know how much longer he plans to remain at the address, but he plans to stay in Vicksburg.

Kenny and Lawanda Smith were not home with the children at the time the fire was reported. The 17-year-old child was reportedly alerted by fumes and extinguished the flames before the Culkin Volunteer Fire Department and deputies arrived, Kenny Smith said.

County investigator Mike Traxler said no suspects have been identified.

Debrah Madden, media representative for the FBI Jackson field office, said though Warren County deputies are leading the investigation, FBI agents “are standing by ready to assist if necessary.”

John Hill said he is going to repair the home.

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Contact Tish Butts at tbutts@vicksburgpost.com