Apartment units burned in what investigators say is case of arson

Two apartment homes were destroyed Saturday night by a fire that investigators say was deliberately set.

Detective Capt. Mike Fowlkes of the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office has charged Mitchell Jeffery Erwin, 48, of 131 Marietta Road, No. 129-C, Gaffney, with two counts of 2nd-degree arson and one count of assault and battery of a high and aggravated nature.

Michael Alan Collins, 42, of 117 Kraft St., Apt. A, told police he and Erwin got into a fight.

Witnesses said they saw Erwin walking away from Collins' home as a neighbor noticed the residence was on fire, a report at the Cherokee County Sheriff's Office states.

Fire investigators from the S.C. Law Enforcement Division and local detectives responded to the site Sunday to continue their investigation and determined the fire was set intentionally, the report states.

Gaffney and Blacksburg firefighters battled the blaze between 9 p.m. and 2 a.m. All three Gaffney stations responded to the location again on Sunday to extinguish a "hot spot" that flared up. Both apartments were a total loss. Edward Ramsey, 47, lived in the second apartment.