House fire on 20th Street in Gulfport

Around 5 this afternoon, Gulfport Fire Department got a call of a one story house fire on 20^th Street.

According to Gulfport fire, crews arrived on scene within minutes of the call. They believe the fire started on the outside of the home. No one was inside at the time of the fire.

Gulfport Fire Chief Mike Beyerstedt says from witness statements and the advanced progression when they arrived to the fire are leading them towards this being arson, but they are still very early into this investigation. “We’ve had some witnesses already come forward with some statements and we also have some past history at this address of an arson related case and so that, in conjunction of the advanced state of the fire on our arrival and those witness statements, are kind of pointing us in that direction at this point.”