Apartment Building, Residential High Rise Macon, GA – Arson fire at high-rise apartments contained with help from sprinkler system June 21, 2016 viking210 Fire alarms and sprinklers went off again Monday morning at St. Paul Apartments, a high-rise at 1330 Forsyth St. plagued by recent arsons. Macon-Bibb County fire investigator Sgt. Steve Wesson said several fires have been reported at the building in the past three or four weeks. “A resident was setting something on fire and throwing it down the trash chute, causing the Dumpster to catch on fire,” Wesson said before leaving the apartments Monday morning. About 5:30 a.m., Macon-Bibb firefighters responded to a small fire in room 904, a vacant apartment that was being used for storage, Macon-Bibb fire investigator Lt. Ben Gleaton said. The room had been burglarized, some tools stolen and a fire set, Wesson said. “I hope you get whoever. This is crazy,” fourth-floor resident Brigitte Gramke told the investigators as she walked her dog outside the brick building near downtown Macon. “It’s really bad.” A Bibb County deputy arrested Robert Walter Hutchens, 75, who lives in room 901 at St. Paul Apartments. Hutchens was charged with burglary, according to Bibb County jail records, and stolen tools were recovered. Additional charges are pending if Hutchens is found responsible for the fire. The sprinkler system caused water damage in some of the building, Gleaton said. “It has to cost a fortune and usually it’s arson,” Gramke said of the multiple fires. The St. Paul Apartments manager declined to comment Monday morning.
