A police officer’s burning ammunition sent shell casings flying in a Macon house fire early Monday.

At about 4:20 a.m., firefighters were called to a house fire at 2822 Kent Drive near Downing Circle, which is not too far from Southwest High School in a neighborhood that sits between Williamson Road and Eisenhower Parkway.

One firefighter on the scene radioed in there were “bullets flying everywhere,” but no one was hurt.

Macon-Bibb County fire investigator Sgt. Ben Gleaton said he dug out several shell casings from the rubble.

“I don’t think it was a whole heck of (a lot of) it going off,” Gleaton said. “There was some ammunition cooking off, but as far as how many rounds, it is hard to say whether it was five or 50.”

Gleaton said when ammunition is exposed to the heat from a fire, the shell casings normally fly off, but the bullets themselves usually stay put and open up like a flower.

“The light brass shoots off before the heavier lead,” Gleaton said.

Most of the damage was in the officer’s master bedroom and attic, he said, but there was smoke and water damage in most of the rest of the home. No one was at home at the time of the fire, which damaged at least 80 percent of the house, according to a news release from the Macon Police Department.

The exact cause of the blaze is under investigation, but Gleaton is pretty confident it was an accident.

“I don’t see any signs of anything hokey,” he said.

To contact writer Liz Fabian, call (478) 744-4303.