UPDATE: Old Miller School fire ruled as arson

MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) – The Macon-Bibb Fire Department is ruling the fire at the historic A.L. Miller High School as arson.

Fire officials reviewed the damage with a state investigator on Monday and found out the fire started in the gym. They used a god to see if there were any flammable liquids inside. Sergeant Ben Gleaton with the Macon Bibb Fire Department said the dog was a big help.

The fire destroyed the gym and damages nearby buildings early Friday morning. Investigators don’t know specifically what caused the fire. There’s a reward for up to $10,000 for information about it. If you know anything, you’re asked to call Georgia Arson Control at 1-800-282-5804 or Macon Regional Crimestoppers at 478-742-2330.

The project manager says the plans to build 71 apartment homes are still moving forward.

Macon-Bibb fire investigators are looking into how a fire started at the old A.L. Miller High School on Montpelier Avenue. They’re calling the fire suspicious. 

Firefighters got the call around 12:30 Friday morning. 

Crews had aerial units cooling down the smoldering, vacant building. 

“My shift came into relieve the other shift. We caught the brunt of the fire last night,” Capt. Timothy Johnson says. 

He says the fire was massive. 

“We’ve been basically going through, slowly and methodically, hitting each classroom, putting out the hot spots, finishing and extinguishing the fire,” Johnson says. 

Captain Rex Sampson was one of the first on the scene. He injured his leg and was taken to the hospital. 

The gymnasium at the old school, that’s been vacant for years, was destroyed. other buildings on the campus were damaged from smoke and water. 

Jackson says the boarded up building prevented the fire from spreading due to a lack of oxygen, but made it harder for firefighters to control.

“Once you get a fire of that magnitude going. It makes it harder on us because of the ventilation aspect and we’ve got to pull the boards off the windows and extinguish the fire,” Johnson says. 

Macon-Bibb’s Assistant Fire Chief, Shane Edwards, tells 41NBC the building didn’t have power — which rules out an electrical issue starting the fire — making this case suspicious. 

A Kentucky-based consulting group is looking to redevelop the old school into 71 apartment homes. 

“It’s nothing to make light of, but no, we’ve got the rest of the campus to develop. The elementary school damage is minimal from what we understand. The structure is still in place. We were going to renovate the inside of that building anyway,” Mark Wright, an architect with Oracle Consulting Services says. 

Representatives say they have no plans to slow their project down and look forward to beginning the renovation process in September. 

“Our project is moving forward, 100% full bore. We’re not stopping,” Wright says. 

The state fire marshal is sending a crew to assess the damage on Monday.

Captain Sampson was released from the hospital Friday afternoon. no word on what caused the fire.  

The Bibb County Sheriff’s Office blocked off several roads temporarily including Montpelier Avenue between Pio Nono Avenue and Virginia Avenue, Beech Avenue from Hendley Street to Birch Street, Hendley Street from Beech Avenue to Montpelier Avenue, Ninadale Avenue at Montpelier Avenue and Madden Avenue at Montpelier Avenue.