A Mount Airy man has been arrested on two felony charges stemming from the alleged burning of his home in late January.

Roy Dale Collins, 65, of 118 Ridgeview Drive, was taken into custody Wednesday evening on violations including arson and insurance fraud charges, according to Detective Tim Hodges of the Mount Airy Police Department.

Collins was released from the Surry County Jail Thursday afternoon upon posting a $5,000 secured bond, a jail spokesman said. He is scheduled to appear in District Court on Feb. 25.

The charges against Collins came in the wake of a joint investigation by city police, the State Bureau of Investigation Arson Division and the Mount Airy Police Department, the detective said.

Hodges said Collins came under suspicion early on during the probe of the blaze, which occurred about 3:30 a.m. on Jan. 23. “It was actually from the moment the fire started,” the detective said, adding that state investigators “had ruled it an arson” initially.

Also, the homeowner made “inconsistent” statements during the course of the probe, Hodges said.

Collins had claimed that the house he had lived in for 25 years was broken into and then set on fire to cover up the evidence. He said that $5,000 in cash was stolen from a safe and several weapons also were taken.

Neither Collins nor his son Chad were home when the blaze began. The elder Collins reportedly was staying with another son, Jesse Ray Collins, who was getting ready to be deployed overseas. Chad Collins said he was in Virginia with friends and the family’s two dogs that night.

On the day of the blaze, Collins said he always left the doors of his house unlocked, but claimed the safe was locked the night before. He advised a reporter on the scene that the safe was open, though he told officials he had not been in the structure since the night before.

In addition to alleged inconsistent statements, the city detective said that an “arson dog” brought to the site during the investigation detected traces of an accelerant at several locations throughout the house.

Firemen from five departments worked for 45 minutes to extinguish the fire, which caused damages estimated at nearly $120,000 to the brick structure.

Afterward, the homeowner received emergency assistance from the local American Red Cross chapter and later issued a public statement expressing his thanks to that agency as well as firefighters and police officers who responded to the incident.

The city detective added that more charges could result from the suspicious blaze.

“The case is still under investigation and may lead to more arrests,” Hodges said.