2 men arrested, charged with arson, insurance fraud in Columbus fire
Two men have been arrested and charged with crimes related to a fire in Columbus.
Columbus Fire & EMS Department arson investigators and the Muscogee County Sheriffs Office Special Operations Unit arrested Emerson Myers and Kelvin Hall in connection with the March 7 fire in the 1400 block of 15th Street, Columbus Fire & EMS announced Wednesday on its Facebook page.
“We appreciate the hard work and dedication of our investigators,” the post says.
Myers is charged with first-degree arson, second-degree criminal damage to property and insurance fraud, and Hall is charged with insurance fraud, according to the post.
In an interview Thursday with the Ledger-Enquirer, Columbus Fire & EMS Capt. David Smith said nobody was injured in the fire that destroyed the vacant house. The suspects didn’t own the property, but they made insurance claims on false policies, he said.
Smith and Columbus Fire Marshal Daniel Macon credit these arrests with a change the department started last year. The department’s Community Risk Reduction Division began cross-training between investigators and inspectors. So, instead of having only three investigators, now seven of the eight staff members in the division can do both tasks.
No coincidence, they say, that the number of arson arrests their department has made increased from five all of last year to 10 so far this year.
“We’re having a lot more people that are being able within our division to go out and take a look at these fires and work on these fires,” Smith said. “We’ve been able to work these cases more consistently, and we’ve also built better relationships with the (sheriff’s office and police department) as far as the special operations units, and we’ve been able to work with them as far as getting some of these people off the street.”
This story was originally published May 29, 2026 at 5:00 AM.
