Wendy Byerly Wood/The News

Firefighters were on the scene of this mobile home blaze until around 2 a.m. Monday morning. The blaze is being investigated by the Surry County Fire Marshal’s Office as because there was no power to the home at the time of the fire.

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PILOT MOUNTAIN — A Sunday night fire on Avie Trail in Pilot Mountain is being investigated as suspicious, according to Scottie Chilton, chief of the Bannertown Volunteer Fire Department.

Firefighters from the Bannertown, Pilot Knob and Westfield departments were dispatched shortly after 9 p.m., Sunday, for a report of a house fire.

When they arrived on the scene, Chilton said they found a single-wide mobile home with an addition “fully involved.”

According to the chief, there was no power at the home, leaving firefighters wondering about the cause.

“We don’t know what started it,” he said, noting that the fire has been ruled as “suspicious,” and is being investigated by the Surry County Fire Marshal.

Chilton said officers with the Surry County Sheriff’s Office were also on the scene, but not as a result of the fire.

“From what I understand, the home belonged to the people living there and they were renting land from the property owner,” he said. “There may have been a confrontation with the property owner and that’s why the sheriff’s department was involved.”

According to Chilton, the owners of the mobile home were moving and the property owner had given them permission to “get their stuff out,” but required it be done within specified hours.

“They came in later and the property owner called the sheriff’s department,” Chilton said.

Firefighters were on the scene until around 2 a.m., Chilton added, noting that one firefighter was transported to the hospital to be treated for heat exhaustion. The unidentified firefighter was treated and released, according to the Bannertown chief.

Reach Keith Strange at kstrange@heartlandpublications.com or 719-1929.