Driving home in the early hours of Sunday morning, the Sherwood Forest family realized something was wrong because all the neighborhood porch lights were on — then they saw the fire trucks at their home.
Tim and Ally Shannon had put off until Saturday a trip to Atlanta to pick up his birthday present, a new guitar.
“We hadn’t gone out of town in a while because we were scared with all the fires going on,” said Tim Shannon. “Now I can write a country song — my house is burned down, but I’ve got my guitar.”
The couple lived at 20 Lionel Lane with their 7-year-old daughter Crysta, who was at her biological mother’s home that night, and their dog Daisy and cat C.A.T.
C.A.T. was in the home and died in the 1 a.m. fire. Daisy escaped from the back yard during the fire and was hit by a car, said Shannon.
The Shannons’ house is the fourth in Sherwood Forest within the past month to burn, and last week the state fire marshal ruled the previous fires were the work of arsonists.
Click here for a previous story about the other fires.
There are several things about Sunday’s fire — the cause of which remains under investigation — that differ from the earlier fires.
It is the first in an occupied residence and involving a reported theft. Shannon said a Playstation 3 was stolen from the house before the fire.
“The only reason I got the Playstation was to play ‘God Of War 3,’” said Tim Shannon. “It looked like they tried to take the TV too, but it’s too heavy — they moved it though.”
Sunday afternoon the Shannons, along with their family, were sifting through the ashes to salvage anything they could.
“Well now I’ve got a sunroof,” said Tim Shannon, looking at a charred family room with a large hole in the roof. “I kind of wanted one, but not like this. I look at this room and, man, I just can’t get used to it.”
Neighbors came by throughout the day to offer condolences.
“I have four or five people I insure in the area, and they’re scared,” said State Farm Insurance agent Terry Simmons, who was on the scene Sunday afternoon.
“Maybe they’ll step up and beef up the patrolling in the area,” said Tim Shannon. “Either (the thief) knew we weren’t home or they were ballsy enough to try and come in. We had three cars parked out front and a dog out back.”
The state fire marshal is offering a $10,000 reward to anyone with information that could lead to the arrest and conviction of the suspect(s) involved in the arsons.
To file any reports, contact the Georgia Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner at 1-800-656-2298. Signs are posted in the Sherwood Forest area regarding reward information.
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