Nov. 16--KNOXVILLE -- Authorities charged a 61-year-old homeless man with arson in connection with a fire Thursday night that consumed a warehouse in South Knoxville.
Emergency personnel have reopened Chapman Highway, which was shut down as firefighters battled flames about 9:40 p.m. at the empty warehouse next to the former Kern's Bakery.
Knoxville Fire Department fire investigators charged Curtis B. Dunbar, who listed his address as a N. Broadway homeless shelter, with public intoxication and arson, records show. He was being held this morning in the Knox County Sheriff's Detention Facility on a $16,000 bond.
Dunbar admitted to setting the fire, Fire Department Capt. D.J. Corcoran said.
Corcoran said Thursday night investigators were unsure if Dunbar, who wasn't hurt by the blaze, set the fire out of malice or to stay warm.
Firefighters got the blaze under control within about an hour of arriving at the vacant building in the 2100 block of Chapman Highway. The building at one time housed administrative offices and a thrift store.
A passerby reported the fire around 9:40 p.m., Knox County E-911 records show. Corcoran said crews arrived and found the warehouse engulfed in flames, with the blaze shooting through the roof.
Firefighters initially tried to fight the fire from inside the warehouse but were soon forced back because "the fire had too much of a head start on us," Corcoran said.
More details as they develop online and in Saturday's News Sentinel.
Copyright 2012 - The Knoxville News-Sentinel, Tenn.
