Two Tents Made Into One Catch Fire

Firefighters responded to a fire on Rock Hill Road Wednesday. Michael Reed told the Cocke County Sheriff’s office that he had put two tents together, creating one big tent that he was using to live in. Fire broke out in that tent structure Wednesday night. Two people who were in the tent stated that they heard a slap against the side of the tent and when they went outside, saw that the structure was on fire.

An investigation into the cause of that fire found that two electrical wires were coming from a neighboring camper and were hooked into a breaker box on the side of the camper. The other end of the wires were hooked into a breaker box that was inside the tent. An electric heater, microwave, and several other items that would require power were found burned inside the tent. Also two solar panels that had apparently been on the outside of the tents, were directly wired into three 12v car batteries, and a power inverter. The three car batteries and power inverter were all wired together on a single circuit. Investigators believe that a power surge that originated in the camper caused the fire that burned that tent. Therefore arson is not suspected.