Officials: Felton fire causes over $20K in damages; Accidental electrical incident to blame

A fire reportedly resulted in over $20,000 in damages, after officials say an electrical accident prompted the building fire, in Felton.

The Delaware State Fire Marshal says on Thursday, just after 11:15 PM, a person passing driver reported a building fire, in the 500 block of Berrytown Road. Officials report that the Felton Community Fire Company responded to the area and found fire and smoke coming from an empty structure. The Felton responders were assisted by the Harrington and Magnolia Fire Companies.

According to the report, the blaze was put out by firefighters around 12:05 AM, and no one was injured in the incident. Authorities say the structure was previously a church. Officials say the property also previously had another structure that was used by the Healing Hands Christian Church which was a victim of an arson fire in December 2014. The building that was damaged on Thursday was apparently not damaged during the 2014 fire.

After further investigation, officials determined that the fire began on the outside of the building, and it was a result of an electric service feed failure where the energized electrical line ignited the ground cover next to the building and spread to the building.

Damages from this incident are reportedly estimated at $25,000.