Tennessee Fire Officials Still Investigating Knoxville Warehouse Fire

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Tennessee Fire officials have submitted a report to the Knox County district attorney general on the status of the yearlong probe of the blaze that destroyed several historic warehouses.

The row of brick warehouses along West Jackson Avenue in downtown Knoxville went up in flames last February.

An investigation into the blaze has been conducted by a 10-member task force, which includes the Knoxville fire department, state fire marshal’s office and federal authorities.

Officials this week said the task force has not yet determined if the blaze was arson or accidental.

“The investigation is continuing,” Knoxville fire department spokesman Capt. Brent Seymour said. “We meet weekly with local and federal authorities to discuss the progress of the investigation.”

Mark Saroff, who owned two of the three destroyed warehouses built in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, reported the blaze. City officials later said Saroff was improperly living in one of the warehouses at the time of the fire.

Three Knoxville firefighters were injured battling the flames when they had to escape from a burning third floor.

Seymour and Fire Department assistant chief Danny Beeler, who heads the fire investigation unit, declined to discuss the report. Beeler said he delivered a two-page report to the prosecutor’s office.

John Gill, special counsel to District Attorney General Randy Nichols, declined last week to comment on the report or the reason the office that prosecutes criminal conduct was being included.

Saroff declined on Jan. 25 to talk about the fire or any plans to redevelop the property.

Information from: The Knoxville News Sentinel,
http://www.knoxnews.com