By Leah Justice

leah.justice@tryondailybulletin.com

GREEN CREEK: The Polk County Sheriff’s Office and Fire Marshal are investigating the cause of what they are calling a suspicious fire that completely destroyed a small mobile home Thursday.

Capt. Lowell Griffin of the sheriff’s office said at 5:12 p.m. Thursday, July 21, the Green Creek Fire Department and mutual aid departments were dispatched to the structure fire, located on Tanner Rd. just off Chesnee Hwy. in Green Creek.

Griffin said the fire was extinguished quickly and the sheriff’s office and fire marshal were called to assist in the investigation as to the cause of the fire.

No one was injured in the fire, although father and son residents, John Wayne Sparks Sr. and John Wayne Sparks Jr. were home at the time of the fire, according to reports.

Griffin said the residence has in the past been the scene of disturbances that the sheriff’s office has responded.

A disturbance occurred at the fire scene Thursday and John Wayne Sparks Jr., 40, was arrested and charged with resist, obstruct and delay an official, according to the sheriff’s office. Sparks Jr. was still in jail under a $1,000 bond as of Friday morning.

Griffin also said as of Friday, no determination had been made to the cause of the fire, but because of circumstances surrounding the fire, “it is being treated as suspicious at this point.”

The home and all of its contents were completely destroyed in the fire.