Man charged with arson in Atlanta fire
ATLANTA — A man accused of starting a raging fire that collapsed a portion of Interstate 85 a few miles north of downtown Atlanta was charged with arson Saturday.
The first-degree arson charge was added to a firstdegree criminal damage to property charge Basil Eleby already faced in connection with the Thursday evening fire that caused a heavily traveled overpass to disintegrate. Total bond was set at $200,000.
Eleby’s next court appearance was set for April 14.
Online jail records show that Eleby has been arrested more than a dozen times since 1995, mostly on drug charges.
Deputy Insurance Commissioner Jay Florence said Eleby was arrested on Friday along with Sophia Bruner and Barry Thomas. Bruner and Thomas were charged with criminal trespass.
“We believe they were together when the fire was set and Eleby is the one who set the fire,” Florence said.
Florence would not discuss how the fire was started or why, saying those details would be released as the investigation progresses.
The fire broke out Thursday afternoon in an area used to store stateowned construction materials and equipment, sending flames and smoke high into the air and crippling a major traffic artery in a city known for dreadful rush-hour congestion.
Dozens of firefighters battling the roaring blaze beneath the roadway moved safely out of harm’s way amid telltale signs the roadway was breaking apart from the intense heat.
“They heard the cracking of the concrete,” Atlanta Fire Chief Joel Baker said. “They could see concrete was flying all over the place toward firefighters.”
Firefighters shut down the roadway before it fell and retreated safely without injury.
Experts in structural engineering said fires on highways and bridges rarely burn long enough or hot enough to cause a complete collapse — but it has happened. Intense heat can compromise even steel-reinforced concrete, said Lauren Stewart, director of the Structural Engineering and Materials Laboratory at Georgia Tech in Atlanta.
“With fires, especially fires that burn for long periods and with high heat, you can see structures, anything from buildings to bridges, can have their material properties degrade,” Stewart said.
In 1996, a fire in a big pile of tires beneath I-95 in Philadelphia left a span too weak to handle cars, forcing authorities to shut down 4 miles of the busy East Coast route for repairs.