A fire completely consumed a Banks mobile home Thursday after the decision was made to allow the property to burn to the ground.

The origin of the blaze, which consumed a mobile home located at 7228 North US Highway 29, was unknown, but by the time firefighters and the property’s caretaker arrived on scene, it was apparent nothing could be done to salvage the home.

“We don’t have any idea at all what might have caused it,” said John Register, chief of Pike County Fire and Rescue. “When we got here, the center of the trailer was already fully involved, so there was no way to put it out. Our focus was just to control the fire and keep it from reaching the other trailers.”

Sherrill Calhoun, the property’s caretaker, said he was shopping when he received news of the fire.

“I got a call while I was at Lowe’s, and I came up here, but by that time, it was already completely on fire,” Calhoun said.

Calhoun also said his son, Daryl Calhoun, had owned the property for roughly 12 years, but that the mobile home had been unoccupied for the past two years.

And, while the cause of the fire was unknown, Calhoun did have his own theories.

“I haven’t the slightest idea of what actually happened, but I think it was deliberately set,” Calhoun said. “We’ve had a lot of problems out here with vandalism. One of the other trailers out here has had the wiring ripped out of it and the paneling stripped off before, so I’m interested to see if any of the wiring is left in that trailer because I think it could have been stripped out and then set on fire by whoever did it.”

Calhoun said the mobile home had been stripped of some of its wiring roughly six to eight weeks ago.