Thursday, August 23, 2007

Authorities Issue Plea For Information In Three Fires

   Authorities are soliciting information from the public in the hopes of putting arsonists behind bars, and discovering whether foul play was involved in a recent fire at a Lawrenceburg business.

   Shayne Adams, Fire Investigator with the Lawrenceburg Fire Department, indicated during a press conference Wednesday that information is being sought in connection with recent fires at 2130 Pulaski Highway, 117 West Taylor Street, and 514 First Street.

   The West Taylor Street fire occurred around 1:30 a.m. on July 1, while firefighters were dispatched less than twenty-four hours later to battle the First Street blaze.

   Both structures, Adams pointed out, were undergoing renovation and were vacant at the time the fires were set.

   At 10:38 p.m. on July 22, emergency personnel were dispatched to battle the Pulaski Highway fire at Prime Seating. To date, authorities have not been able to determine the cause of the fire, however arson has not been ruled out. “We just have some unanswered questions,” Adams explained, “Until they are answered we can’t rule out arson.”

   Adams explained, “A reward of $11,500 has been offered in this case for information that leads to an arrest…If you were in the area of this fire between the ours of 8:00 p.m. and midnight on Sunday, July 22, and saw anything you thought was unusual, or if you know anything about what might have happened, please call with that information,” Adams urged. “People may not realize what they saw would be important to us.”

   Anyone with information should place a call to the Tennessee Arson Hotline at 1-800-762-3017.

   Fire Chief Don Kelley added, “I would like to extend a special thanks to all those who assisted us in fighting the Prime Seating fire, especially Leoma, New Prospect, Ethridge and Crossroads Fire Departments and the Lawrence County Fire and Rescue Squad.”

   Kelley explained, “With their help we were able to set up a shuttle operation that allowed us to take care of the fire.”

   The shuttle operation, Kelley explained, include setting up a 3,000 gallon dump tank at the scene. Firefighters then used their tanker trucks to shuttle water back and forth. “We could then draft from that tank to fight the blaze,” Kelley said. Kelley pointed out that this system was needed due to lower water supply in the area of the industry. “That operation supplied water to the ladder truck that night,” Kelley said, “This allowed us to be able to take care of it.”

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