JEFFERSON CITY • The police station, city hall and the former mayor’s house in the small town of Parma, Mo., all burned Tuesday night after the swearing in of a new mayor and new city council member, according to the state auditor’s office.

New Madrid County Sheriff Terry Stevens told KFVS-TV that firefighters were dispatched to former Mayor Tyus Byrd's house about midnight and soon realized the police station and city hall were also on fire.

Byrd’s house was reduced to smoldering rubble by Wednesday, according to images broadcast by KFVS.

The TV station reported Wednesday that the county sheriff, the state fire marshal and the Highway Patrol were all investigating. The sheriff suspects arson, he told the station.

Parma is about 176 miles south of St. Louis in the state's Bootheel. It has fewer than 700 residents.

News of the fire came the same day Auditor Nicole Galloway, a Democrat, announced that her public corruption unit had recently received a complaint on its whistle-blower hotline concerning the town’s financial activities. She said her office would launch an audit after finding the tip credible.