No one was hurt, but the blaze destroyed a building that was less than one year old and canceled classes for a nearby school.
"It's kind of surreal, looking at what you've worked a long time for just smoldering in the ashes," said Scott Collins, owner of a dental supply company gutted by the fire.
Police charged Timmy W. Cooper, 43, of Nicholasville with third-degree arson, a felony punishable by one to five years in prison. He is an employee of Metcalf Plumbing, the business where firefighters said the fire began. Nicholasville Fire Chief Charles Brumfield confirmed that the plumbing company owner, Randy Metcalf, is Cooper's half-brother.
Metcalf had no comment on the investigation and Nicholasville Police Chief Barry Waldrop said he did not know a motive. Investigators with the state fire marshal's office were still sifting through the scene yesterday to determine how the blaze started.
What is known is that a burglary alarm sent Nicholas-ville police to 198 Computrex Drive shortly after 4 a.m. yesterday. When officers arrived, they saw smoke around Metcalf Plumbing, then heard a loud explosion and requested firefighters.
About that time, police saw a man leaving the rear and detained him to see if he knew anything about the fire and to find out why he was on the property.
Cooper allegedly told police that he had been working on a company vehicle when he was threatened by two or more people who had illegally entered the premises. Cooper allegedly told police that he fled, and in doing so knocked over a can of gasoline, which then ignited a heater inside the building.
But police said they were unable to substantiate Cooper's story.
Cooper, who will be arraigned today in Jessamine District Court, has had previous trouble with the law. A sexual abuse charge in 2003 was amended to fourth-degree assault. He pleaded guilty last year to another misdemeanor assault and an amended charge of second-degree fleeing or evading police.
About 50 firefighters from the Nicholasville and Jessamine County responded to the two-alarm blaze, Brumfield said. He and others said yesterday's blaze spread from Metcalf Plumbing into the neighboring businesses: HH General Contractor Inc., which built the building six to eight months ago, Algonquin Properties and Collins Dental.
The fire canceled classes at The Providence School, the Jessamine County school district's alternative school for about 250 middle and high school students, because Computrex Drive was closed to all but emergency vehicles and because water pressure was low in the area because of the firefighting, said Assistant Superintendent Owens Saylor.
Classes are scheduled to resume today, Superintendent Lu Young said.
Also destroyed in the blaze were a 1992 Rinker cruise boat, a Jaguar automobile, a personal watercraft, a four-wheeler and other vehicles in storage, said Steve Gross, whose brother, Stanley, owned the building.
The four burned-out businesses now face the struggle of recovery. Collins Dental, which buys, sells and services new and used dental equipment, had moved into the Computrex-Drive building about six months ago, Scott Collins said.
Collins estimated that his $200,000 inventory included chairs, drills and X-ray equipment.
"What do you do?" he said. "It's in God's hands because it's not in mine."
