Fulton Carpet Fire Called Suspicious

A fire that broke out in an industrial building in South Fulton County Monday morning continued to burn hours later and fire investigators wanted to know if an arsonist could be to blame (Related: Photo Gallery).

The fire started just before 7 a.m. just off Fulton Industrial Boulevard. The blaze was the second at the former carpet warehouse on Mendel Drive in a month, raising suspicions that it may not have been an accident in either case. Large, tightly-bundled bales of carpet remnants were fueling the fire, officials said.

"We're gonna take a look at that. We're gonna make sure that it wasn't just an accident. We're gonna get inside, we're gonna take a look at what is going on inside, we're gonna find the point of origin," said Lt. Gregory Chambers, Fulton County Fire Department.

The fire sent a large plume of smoke that could be seen for miles around Atlanta -- even as far away as Gwinnett County. The Georgia EPD tested the smoke to see if contained any harmful chemicals. They said they did not detect toxins. However, the smoke was thick, and contained a strong chemical smell.

(Related Video: Smoke Seen From Stone Mountain).

Fire officials took dozens of calls regarding the smoke sightings as fire crews raced to the scene to battle the blaze. No injuries were reported.

Atlanta firefighters were assisting Fulton County firefighters at the site of the fire, which was burning east of Fulton Industrial Boulevard and about a mile south of I-20 in South Fulton County.

Fire officials said they also want to know if the sprinkler system inside the building was working. It may have been taken out of service by the small fire that broke out a month ago.

"This building had not utilities hooked up to it," said state insurance commissioner John Oxendine. "We have a situation of an unoccupied building, had a fire last month, when it was also unoccupied."

Oxendine said they are considering the fire suspicious, but made a point of mentioning that it was not considered arson as of this point. Investigators will enter the remains of the building on Tuesday to begin searching for a cause.