Information from WYSH Radio
More than 30 courthouses and other government buildings across the state—including the courthouses in Anderson, Blount, Campbell, and Knox counties—received hoax bomb threats on Tuesday, spurring evacuations, and in at least one case, the closure of the building for the day.
Scattered light rain finally brought some relief to state and local firefighters who have fought 67 fires since Nov. 10 in upper East Tennessee.
The fires have burned more than 6,300 acres, according to the Tennessee Division of Forestry, and many of them, including three in Anderson County, have been suspected arsons.
Firefighters were still working to contain one large fire on Cross Mountain near I-75 on the Anderson-Campbell county line, said Nathan M. Waters, Tennessee Forestry Division assistant district forester in Knoxville.
Information from WYSH Radio in Clinton
A van driver for the East Tennessee Human Resource Agency was arrested last week after he allegedly bought pain pills from a confidential informant in a bathroom at Methodist Medical Center in Oak Ridge.
Leonard Shannon Ellis, 33, of Rockwood and Keith Edward Sackett, 55, of Kingston are each in custody at the Anderson County Jail on charges of criminal conspiracy and possession of a controlled substance.
Information from WYSH Radio in Clinton
The desire to find a deal on a gift for his grandson early on Black Friday landed a Clinton man in jail.
According to the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department, 62-year-old Jerry Leon Poe allegedly fired a pistol at a woman driving in front of him on Oak Ridge Highway shortly before 5 a.m. Friday to, as he put it to deputies, “scare her into moving.”
A Pizza Hut driver was allegedly robbed at gunpoint Saturday night while delivering pizzas on Jefferson Avenue, an Oak Ridge Police Department report said.
The suspected robber allegedly stole the 25-year-old victim’s cell phone, three pizzas, and $70 in cash at about 10:10 p.m. Saturday, the report said.
Pizza Hut had received a call from someone who identified himself as George W. and ordered three pizzas at 9:22 p.m. Saturday. But when the driver delivered the pizzas to the vacant duplex on the east side of Jefferson Avenue, there were no cars parked there, the home was dark, and no one answered the door or the phone.
The Anderson County Commission will have a public hearing on Monday, Dec. 10, to hear citizens’ concerns about the Andersonville Volunteer Fire Department’s proposal to start a subscription/membership service.
The public hearing will start at 7 p.m. in Room 312 of the Anderson County Courthouse at 100 N. Main St. in Clinton.
The area of Redoak Mountain east of New River Highway in northern Anderson County, where a 150-acre fire was reported Sunday afternoon. Anderson County is on the south side of the black Anderson-Campbell county line. (Image courtesy of Nathan M. Waters/Tennessee Division of Forestry)
Tennessee firefighters reported a new fire on Redoak Mountain on the Anderson-Campbell county line early Sunday afternoon.
The fire was initially estimated at about 100 acres, and firefighters were responding from the Tennessee Division of Forestry and Claiborne County. There are several houses on the Anderson County side, said Nathan M. Waters, Tennessee Forestry Division assistant district forester.
The fire is off Highway 116, which is also known as New River Highway in northern Anderson County. It’s in steep, strip-mining country west of Briceville and in an area close to the Graves Gap fire that was reported as a 100-acre fire on Thanksgiving but grew to 375 acres on Friday.
Lower humidity and gusty winds at higher elevations mean fire conditions have worsened in East Tennessee, state firefighters said Sunday.
Two firefighters were slightly injured battling blazes in Campbell County on Saturday, said Nathan M. Waters, Tennessee Forestry Division assistant district forester.
State and local firefighters have responded to 16 new fires since Thanksgiving Day across upper East Tennessee, including in Anderson, Campbell, Knox, Morgan, Scott, Sevier, and Union counties. The fires have burned hundreds of acres, and many of them are suspected arsons.
Waters said forestry crews would recheck fires in Anderson, Scott, and Campbell counties, including one on Walden Ridge that broke out again on Saturday and one on a mountaintop west of Briceville on Highway 116, also known as New River Highway. The Walden Ridge breakout was contained, and “crews will be improving lines today,” Waters said.
The Clinton Police Department has identified the man killed after his car rolled down an embankment and onto railroad tracks early Saturday morning.
Chris Vann, 39, of Clinton had been driving a 1992 Mitsubishi on Carden Road, which runs parallel to the train tracks, when his car left the road, rolled down the embankment, and came to rest on the tracks.
A CPD press release said it wasn’t clear if Vann died during the first accident or when his car was hit by a Norfolk Southern train. Police said it also wasn’t clear how long the vehicle had been on the tracks before it was hit by the train.
The large mountaintop fire near New River Highway west of Briceville was mostly out Saturday afternoon, but flames are flaring again on Walden Ridge in northern Anderson County, a state official said.
Meanwhile, firefighters were battling a 1,000-acre blaze in Campbell County. Despite fires across several counties in upper East Tennessee in the past week, though, no structures or homes have been damaged, according to the Tennessee Division of Forestry in Knoxville.
Assistant District Forester Nathan M. Waters said it wasn’t clear what caused the new fire at Walden Ridge. There were several possibilities. The fire had been considered mostly out on Friday, but it could have restarted, jumped control lines, or been reset. State officials suspect arson as the original cause of the 225-acre fire, which started Tuesday at Walden Ridge Road. That’s just north of Dutch Valley Road at Sulphur Springs Road.
Arson was also suspected at the fire near New River Highway at Graves Gap. It was first reported as a 100-acre blaze on Thursday but, fueled by winds, grew to 375 acres on Friday. It’s on a mountain east of New River Highway, also known as Highway 116, between Briceville and Rosedale.
One person died in a collision between a car and train in Clinton early Saturday morning, according to WYSH Radio.
WYSH said police are investigating the 3:30 a.m. accident and will not release the driver’s name until family members have been notified.
WYSH said the accident occurred when the driver’s car left the side of Carden Road and came to rest on the train tracks. An approaching train was unable to stop in time and struck the vehicle, WYSH said.
State and local firefighters used “back fires” to control a mountaintop blaze near New River Highway on Friday. State officials suspect the fire, which grew to 375 acres, was started by arson.
GRAVES GAP—Driven by wind, a mountaintop fire that started as a 100-acre blaze in northern Anderson County on Thursday grew to 375 acres Friday, authorities said.
State firefighters suspect the fire at Graves Gap on New River Highway west of Briceville was started by arson, spokesman Nathan M. Waters said. Waters is assistant district forester for the Tennessee Division of Forestry in Knoxville.
Local and state firefighters battled the mountaintop blaze by setting up control lines, using hand tools and two bulldozers to clear away brush and set “back fires,” essentially fighting “fire with fire.”
Early Friday night, Waters said firefighters had left and plan to return to the blaze on Saturday. Firefighters from the Tennessee Division of Forestry have been assisted by volunteers from Marlow, Briceville, and Sevier County.
