A blaze that destroyed a large part of a Statesville home last week and displaced a family of four may have been caused by a type of spontaneous combustion, Statesville Fire Marshal Mike Billings said.
He said the fire was accidental and began in the garage, where the family had a woodworking shop and kept rags used for staining and cleaning.
Billings said various chemicals on the rags may have caused the fire.
“He had all kinds of different aerosols, stains, thinners and things like that,” Billings said. “There’s no saying what he had in there.”