MACON, Ga. — Macon-Bibb Fire Department said they've charged 58-year-old Derrick Bell of Macon.
Lt. Kyle Murray said Bell is charged with six counts of second-degree criminal damage.
Neighbors told 13WMAZ they saw him light a fire on a Walnut Street porch around 1:30 a.m. on Sunday.
Murray said they don't believe Bell meant to cause the huge blaze, but it was caused by his reckless conduct. They still don't know what he was doing or why.
On Monday, people down the row were trying to piece together what happened the day before. Michael Bell came by with some family members to sort through a burned home that his granddaughter Maghan Orr lived in.
"Just trying to salvage what we can. Digging through everything, and most of it is clouts and it's real thick so we're not gonna be able to salvage much," Bell said.
In Sunday's fire, Orr lost one of her cats that burned to death.
"She's still kinda in shock about the whole thing I think. Losing her pet was the hardest part of it for her," Bell said.
What's been making it easier has been the help pouring in. On Sunday, the Red Cross came by to hand out hygiene bags. Hart's Petuary reached out to the Orr family to offer free cremation services for her cat.
And Monday morning, Howard Chapel Missionary Baptist Church reached out to 13WMAZ to see how they can help the victims.
"Everybody's been great. She's gotten donations from just random people coming up to her that's found out about it," Bell said.
A few doors down at Forrest B. Johnson Law Offices, they're getting creative as they salvage their case files. Managing Attorney Leitra Young Maxwell is just thankful nobody was seriously hurt.
"Our main concern was that our neighbors got out, you know. We're part of this community, we know them, we love them. They stop by and see us, they wave at us, we talk to them. And so we immediately just kind of started praying for them to make sure they had gotten out of the house," Maxwell said.
The flames didn't touch their main building on Sunday, but they have a second building next door that was damaged. It housed their marketing department, offices and some new computers.
"We're just going to take this time to kind of regroup, rebuild, and continue to provide great services," Maxwell said.
"We're just going to take this time to kind of regroup, rebuild, and continue to provide great services," Assistant Managing Attorney Demetrius Padgett said.
Friends have created GoFundMe pages for Orr, and Victoria Carruthers who also lived there and lost all of her belongings as well.