Arson is suspected in a fire that destroyed a house on Fairbanks Street in Slidell Wednesday night, according to St. Tammany Fire Protection District 1 authorities.

Fire investigator Phillip Rodriguez said it took 17 firefighters about an hour to control the blaze that started around 9:17 p.m. at 853 Fairbanks St. next to Possum Hollow Park. Rodriguez said the response was quick because the Olde Towne fire station is less than six blocks away, but the house had old timbers, which made it hard to extinguish.

“It was a very hot fire,” Rodriguez said.

Firefighters with Fire District 1 look for hot spots among the ruins of a house on Fairbanks Street that was destroyed by fire Wednesday night in Slidell. (Staff Photo by Erik Sanzenbach)

When firefighters got to the scene they found the house fully involved with heavy smoke and flames.

The home is owned by Pastor Freeman Simmons, who runs the Light of the World churches on Indian Village Road in Slidell and in New Orleans.

Fortunately, Simmons was not in the house at the time of the fire, and there were no injuries. Simmons was preaching in New Orleans Wednesday night when he got a call from District 1 fire authorities that his house was burning.

“I couldn’t do anything,” Simmons said.

He came back to Slidell Thursday morning to talk to fire and police authorities about the blaze.

“It’s a total loss,” Simmons said Thursday morning as he watched Fire District 1 firefighters and investigators from the Slidell Police Department comb through the charred remains of his house. Rodriguez said the blaze is being treated as an arson fire because of circumstances involved.

This is not the first fire reported at Simmons’ house. Police and firefighters were called to his house on April 13 when neighbors spotted a small fire.

Slidell police spokesman Capt. Kevin Foltz said police officers discovered a small paper fire in the hallway of the house, which was quickly extinguished. Besides the fire call, Foltz said police have received several complaints from Simmons and neighbors on people breaking into the house.

“Neighbors have told us that homeless people have been wandering in there,” Foltz said.

Simmons believes it might have been homeless people camped out in his house who started the blaze.

“I see a lot of homeless around here,” Simmons said. “I guess a homeless person came in here last night.

Simmons has owned the house for 20 years. He had to move out after it was damaged during Hurricane Katrina. He was in the process of rebuilding the house when the fire happened.

He said people have been breaking into the house over the past couple of months while he was at his church in New Orleans.

Erica Schuller, who lives next door to the pastor’s house, said she has seen strangers going in and out.

Simmons had no insurance on the house because it was being rebuilt. He said the fire destroyed the building materials being used in the rebuilding.

Schuller, who is also rebuilding her house, said the firefighters did “a very good job” at keeping the fire from spreading.

“They set up a line of firemen between the fire and our house, and they sprayed the trees to keep the fire away from us,” Schuller said.

Despite the loss of the house, Simmons is glad no one was in the house at the time of the fire.

“We’re lucky no one got hurt,” Simmons said.

This is the second suspicious fire handled by Fire District 1 firefighters in the past week. On June 6, Re’s Barber Shop on Fremaux Drive was burned in a suspicious fire that is still being investigated by Fire District 1 and the Slidell Police. The owner of the barbershop, Clifton “Re” Hopkins, has been able to temporarily re-open his business further down the road at 1137 Fremaux Drive and is hoping to rebuild his shop. He said authorities have told him they are following leads in the case, but he is puzzled as to the cause of the blaze.

“I’m at a standstill as to who did it,” Hopkins said Thursday.