Oak Ridge Today

Sheriff’s Department investigates fire that destroyed empty Briceville home

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The Anderson County Sheriff’s Department is investigating a Saturday night fire that destroyed an empty house in Briceville that had been the target of thieves, authorities said.

The fire at 230 Brown Flats Lane was reported at about 11:36 p.m. Saturday.

John L. Brown, the victim, who lives at a separate address on Brown Flats Lane, said the empty house was his parents’ old home, and there have recently been several thefts there, Anderson County Sheriff’s Department Deputy Joshua A. Humphrey said in an incident report. In one of those thefts, someone stole all the copper, and there was no electricity at the home, Brown told Humphrey. [Read more…]

Police: Suspect sets TV, computer monitor on fire in Walmart parking lot

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Walmart Parking Lot Fire

An unknown suspect set several items on fire in the Walmart parking lot in Oak Ridge on Saturday evening. The items included a 50-inch flat-screen television and a computer monitor. (Photo by Jennifer Sampson)

 

An unknown suspect set several items on fire in the Walmart parking lot in Oak Ridge on Saturday evening, authorities said.

The arson included an LG 50-inch flat-screen television, a computer monitor and modem, three computer hard drives, and two Walmart DVDs, Oak Ridge Police Department Officer Sherrill L. Selby said in an incident report.

The fire was reported at about 7:05 p.m. Saturday at Walmart, which is on South Illinois Avenue in Oak Ridge. Black smoke billowed up from the center of the parking lot until the Oak Ridge Fire Department, which has a fire station nearby, arrived to extinguish the flames. The blaze didn’t appear be set near any vehicles, and there were no reports of injuries.

The police report did not include information on why the suspect might have started the fire.

More information will be added as it becomes available.

Teen confesses to starting Linden car fire, police say

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Linden Elementary School Car Fire

An Oak Ridge teenager has confessed to starting a car fire at Linden Elementary School on March 8, and police are investigating other fires near the school that could be linked to the vehicle arson, authorities said Monday. (Photos by Tom Scott)

Note: This story was updated at 7:35 p.m.

An Oak Ridge teenager has confessed to starting a car fire at Linden Elementary School on March 8, and police are investigating other fires near the school that could be linked to the vehicle arson, authorities said Monday.

Jovon Brooks, 18, was identified through a combination of video surveillance tapes from Linden, independent information that the suspect could be an Oak Ridge High School student, and the work of Oak Ridge Police Department school resource officers and the Criminal Investigations Division, a press release said.

ORPD school resource officers reviewed video surveillance tapes from Linden Elementary School, and they showed a young man walking toward the car with a brick in his hand, the press release said.

“The Criminal Investigations Division then developed independent information the suspect was possibly an Oak Ridge High School student, which allowed school resource officers to positively identify the suspect as Jovon Brooks, 18 years of age,” the release said. “(He) resides in the neighborhood surrounding Linden school. Detectives interviewed Mr. Brooks, who confessed to starting the fire.”

[Read more…]

Reward offered for car, brush arsons near Linden Elementary

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Linden Elementary School Brush Fire

The Oak Ridge Fire Department has battled two brush fires near Linden Elementary School in the past 30 days. This one was March 22 behind the school. (Photos by Tom Scott)

Note: This story was last updated at 1:18 p.m.

Oak Ridge authorities are offering a reward to anyone who has information that leads to the arrest and conviction of the person or people who started a car and brush fires at or near Linden Elementary School during the past month.

Oak Ridge Fire Chief Darryl Kerley said three fires have been extinguished at the following addresses in the past 30 days: 

  • A woods fire at 5:15 p.m. Feb. 27  on Montclair Road near Linden Elementary School.
  • A car fire at 6:20 p.m. March 8 at Linden Elementary School. A second car had been vandalized.
  • A woods fire at 4:48 p.m. March 22 behind Linden Elementary School.

“All three of these fires are under investigation through the joint efforts of the Oak Ridge Fire Department and Oak Ridge Police Department,” Kerley said in a press release. “The fires are possibly connected to the same person(s) or people, so several individuals, not yet identified, are of interest in each of these fires.” [Read more…]

Police investigate Utica Circle apartment fire as possible arson

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Utica Circle Fire

The Oak Ridge Police Department is investigating a Saturday night fire at an apartment building on Utica Circle as a possible arson. (Photos by Tom Scott)

The Oak Ridge Police Department is investigating the Saturday night fire at an apartment building on Utica Circle as a possible arson.

A suspect in the case is also being investigated for reckless endangerment, an ORPD report said. The Saturday night fire endangered other residents in the eight-unit building in the McKenzie Acres apartment complex and displaced those tenants, the report said. The Red Cross found temporary housing for them. [Read more…]

Arson suspected in AC fire

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Information from WYSH Radio

Firefighters from the Andersonville and Medford Volunteer Fire Departments responded to a fire this morning that destroyed a mobile home on Stephens Lane.

No injuries were reported, but the fire is being investigated as a case of arson after authorities discovered what were described as suspicious items at the scene.

More information will be provided as it becomes available.

Walden Ridge fire near Oliver Springs grows to more than 30 acres

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Walden Ridge Fire

Smoke plumes rise above Walden Ridge northeast of Oliver Springs, where a fire first reported Sunday afternoon had grown to more than 30 acres by Tuesday morning.

OLIVER SPRINGS—A fire that was first reported Sunday afternoon on Walden Ridge a few miles northeast of Oliver Springs had grown to more than 30 acres by Tuesday morning, a state forester said.

The fire is on a steep hillside north of Dutch Valley Road between a Marlow Volunteer Fire Department fire station and Fox Lane.

The cause hasn’t been determined, but it was most likely arson, said Nathan Waters, assistant district forester for the Tennessee Division of Forestry.

He said the fire was originally reported as a campfire, but it appears to have started away from any trails or burn pits, and there was no lightning on Halloween, when smoke was first reported in the area. [Read more…]

Sheriff’s Department probes house fire as case of arson

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Information from WYSH Radio

The Anderson County Sheriff’s Department is investigating a fire at a vacant mobile home on Moser Lane as arson. The fire was reported at around 7 p.m. Wednesday at 186 Moser Lane and was extinguished by crews from the Medford Volunteer Fire Department.

A deputy was called to the scene after firefighters reported finding two points of origin for the fire, one in the living room and another just inside the back door. [Read more…]

Anderson County fire probed as arson

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Information from WYSH Radio

A fire that destroyed a vacant home on Back Vowell Road early Wednesday morning is being investigated as arson.

The fire was reported at around 4:15 a.m. Wednesday and extinguished by the Briceville Volunteer Fire Department. A neighbor told an Anderson County Sheriff’s Department deputy the house had been foreclosed upon and had been vacant for about two years. Investigators reported that the house had an electric meter, but that the fire started at the other end of the building. The cause of Wednesday’s fire is under investigation. No injuries were reported.

New 150-acre fire reported on Redoak Mountain on Anderson-Campbell line

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Redoak Mountain Aerial View

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.

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Fire conditions worsen in East Tennessee, two firefighters slightly injured

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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.

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State firefighters suspect arson in Walden Ridge blaze

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Walden Ridge Fire

State officials suspect arson was the cause of a 225-acre fire that started on Walden Ridge in northern Anderson County on Tuesday night. Firefighters battled the blaze by building control lines around it—”fighting fire with fire.”

WALDEN RIDGE—State officials suspect arson as the cause of a 225-acre fire that started on Walden Ridge in northern Anderson County on Tuesday.

State and local firefighters have used hand tools and two bulldozers to remove fuel from around the fire, and they started a “back fire” to control the blaze. It’s “fighting fire with fire,” said Charles Via, Tennessee Division of Forestry fire resources coordinator in Knoxville.

He said the blaze appears to have started at a dump and spread into the woods. It was on Walden Ridge Road, but officials did not have to close the narrow, gravel road.

Although it’s now a controlled burn, flames are still flaring inside the control lines. Those control lines form what look like a giant ring of fire on Walden Ridge.

“This thing is large, and there is no way to put it out without the help of Mother Nature,” Via said Thursday.

[Read more…]