State Fire Commissioner John Oxendine says they're closely watching the situation nationwide and are concerned over fires like the one in DeKalb County that leveled three new, unoccupied homes Tuesday.

"The red flags went up, specifically on these fires, that they may have been related to the mortgage crisis and the bad economy. The mortgage problem, people not being able to sell houses...it is a very strong incentive to set fires to collect insurance proceeds and to get out of the mortgage obligations."

So far, no cause has been determined in the DeKalb fires.