By Don Jacobs
The Knoxville News-Sentinel
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Carelessly discarded smoking material apparently ignited a Sunday blaze that displaced 35 people from a West Knoxville apartment building, fire investigators concluded.
No one was injured in the 9:27 a.m. fire at Bell Walker’s Crossing, 8301 Block House Way, but flames rendered the 24 units in the building uninhabitable.
Firefighters arrived at the three-story building to find flames on second- and third-floor balconies and climbing into the attic area. Firefighters initially thought the fire had started on the third floor because that’s where flames were most intense. Fire investigators, however, determined the flames began on the second-floor balcony of Apartment 121, according to Knoxville Fire Department spokesman Capt. D.J. Corcoran.
“The fire then extended to the balcony directly above, and then into the attic area,” Corcoran said. He was unaware whether the person responsible for the fire was in the apartment when flames erupted.
Investigators have labeled the blaze accidental. As firefighters tried to douse the flames, a part of the third floor collapsed because of the building’s construction, fire damage and water collecting in the structure.
The Knoxville chapter of the American Red Cross is helping some of the displaced residents.
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