Investigators are looking into the cause of several fires at a construction site early Friday morning in southeast Atlanta.

The fire reportedly started around 5 a.m. at what appears to be new townhomes being built in a community called Empire Zephyr.

The equipment pictured is owned by Brent Scarbrough, the contractor for the police training facility, Cop City.
The regional president of Empire Communities, Paul Corely, sits on the board of the APF and the company contributes financially.

Crews were called to 543 Burroughs Street NE for a reported fire just before 5 a.m. The Atlanta Police Department says officers responded and found several pieces of construction equipment on fire. The Atlanta Fire Rescue Department also responded, along with the FBI and ATF. The ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives) is a federal agency that works with local law enforcement to investigate arson among other crimes.

Atlanta Fire Chief Roderick Smith and Police Chief Darin Schierbaum held a news conference on Friday and called this an arson attack. They said four pieces of construction equipment were damaged by this morning’s fires at the construction site, and early indications are that these fires are connected to the protests of the Atlanta Public Safety Training Center.

Submitted Anonymously Over Email to Scenes of the Atlanta Forest