Third Street blaze ruled arson near downtown Macon

Flames lit up the night sky early Tuesday as a house burned atop a hill at 2078 Third St., just off Cynthia Avenue.

“It was a total loss when we got here,” Macon-Bibb County fire Lt. Ben Gleaton said.

The vacant house near downtown Macon, about a block off Houston Avenue, had no utilities hooked up to it, Gleaton said.

“It’s going to be set fire,” he said.

Firefighters were called about 2:40 a.m., and the building was quickly engulfed by flames so hot it melted a trash bin across the street.

Anyone with information about the person who set fire to the house is asked to call the Georgia Arson Control Hotline at 800-282-5804.

This story was originally published May 24, 2016 at 9:19 AM with the headline "Third Street blaze ruled arson near downtown Macon."