UPDATE from Knoxville Fire Department:
- We continue to wet down hot spots.
- Investigators are actively following up on leads. If anyone has any information, they can anonymously call 865-637-1386 or 1-800-762-3017.
- The building was torn down due to safety issues. It was too dangerous to leave standing. This has not hampered the investigation.
- The property will likely be turned back over to Knoxville College later today.
- The L. Nathan building is over 100 years old and has not been occupied by Knoxville College in a number of years. There was no power to the building.
UPDATE: At approximately 8:30 PM this (Monday) evening Knox County 911 communications received a call about Knoxville College possibly being on fire.
The caller stated they could see very high flames and a lot of smoke.
When crews arrived, they saw heavy fire coming from the top of the administration building, also known as L Nathan Hall. Due to the extremely large amount of fire, crews were unable to enter the building. All firefighting efforts were done from the exterior of the structure. Limited water supply made firefighting efforts difficult.
There were no known injuries to report.
Firefighting is ongoing and will continue through most of the night and into the morning.
Parts of the structure collapsed rendering it very unstable. The building is a total loss.
Knoxville Fire Department Investigators are on scene working to determine a cause.
Original story: The Knoxville Fire Department is investigating a fire on the Knoxville College campus which destroys a building.
Heavy fire and smoke was coming from the building which could be seen for miles when crews arrived on the scene last night (Monday).
Knoxville Mayor Indya Kincannon told WVLT News the fire broke out at L. Nathan Hall, which an alumni said hadn’t been occupied in at least 40-50 years. She says the fire was contained to that building and that the cause is unknown at this time.
Kincannon says it’s not city property but they have had to go in to address fire situations many times in recent years.
