Arrest Made in Acworth Brush Fire

A Northeast Cobb man has been arrested in connection with a brush fire behind an Acworth business.

About 3:19 p.m. on May 14, Cobb County Fire & Emergency Services responded to a brush fire behind Practix MFG LLC, 4000 Cantrell Road, that had been extinguished by employees.

During the initial investigation, officials found "no identifiable accidental ignition in or around the fire origin," according to a Cobb County criminal warrant.

When Cobb fire investigators returned to the scene on May 16 to interview Practix employees who discovered and reported the fire, Joseph Michael Pilgrim told them "that smoking was probably the cause of the fire," then led them to a pile of cigarette butts that "were not present at the time of the original investigation," an Acworth police officer wrote in the warrant.

Some of the discarded cigarette butts were on top of the grass "as if they had been scattered about," the officer wrote in the warrant. "One of the cigarette butts had been crushed on the end as if it was discarded in an ashtray."

Additionally, there was no evidence of the cigarettes being extinguished in the spot they were located.

After learning from Practix management that employees were not permitted to smoke in the area where the cigarettes were found, authorities arrested Pilgrim Thursday afternoon on a charge of criminal damage to property in the second degree. No word on a motive.

Pilgrim is being held in the Cobb County Adult Detention Center without bond.