Firefighters said a house at the corner of Dr. Martin L. KingJr. Drive and Old Wesson Road is a total loss after an earlyThursday morning fire.

BFD Shift Capt. Marty Beeson said the fire at 451 Dr. Martin L.King Jr. Dr. was called in by a Brookhaven police officer onpatrol. The house sustained 100 percent damage both to thestructure and to the interior content, he said.

“The police department told us it was started in the front ofthe house and spread to the back very quickly,” Beeson said.

The call went out at 4:48 a.m. When the first truck arrived, thehouse, owned by Tedric Thompson, was fully involved, firefighterssaid. Lumber and other building supplies were stacked in theyard.

“He was remodeling the home,” Beeson said. “He had just startedremodeling, and luckily there was no electricity to thebuilding.”

Beeson said it is too early to tell if the fire will beinvestigated by the state fire marshal’s office.

“We don’t have anything really to go by on that yet,” hesaid.

Crews stayed on the scene until 8 a.m., Beeson said, and checkedback on the home throughout the morning to insure againstrekindling.

The fire on MLK Drive was the second of two house fires foughtby the Brookhaven Fire Department in 24 hours.

The first fire, at 316 Industrial Park Road, was quicklycontained to a bathroom, firefighters said. Beeson said the callwent out at 5:48 p.m. Wednesday and trucks returned to theirstations at 7:20 p.m.

The rental home was owned by Betty Montgomery. Beeson said itsustained 20 percent damage to the structure and 10 percent to thecontents.

Firefighters also responded to a call at CountryBrook LivingCenter, where a resident was making popcorn at 1:30 a.m. and caughtit on fire. The flames were out when firefighters arrived, and theyreturned to the station at 1:40 a.m.