House burns on edge of city

Dyersburg firefighters work to extinguish the blaze at 2225 Forrest St. on Tuesday. The property is just inside the city limits; the fence to the left of the firefighters at left is on the county line.

A fire on Tuesday burned the second abandoned house in three days in Dyer County.

Smoke was reported coming from an uninhabited apartment house in the area west of the Evansville community called Patterson Circle at about 1:37 p.m., said the Dyersburg Fire Department.

The cause of the fire is undetermined, said Dyersburg Fire Chief Bob Veal.

A firefighter knocks a circular fan from the rooftop. [Click to enlarge]

"It's not yet suspicious until we get something more," said Veal. "There was probably a vagrant or someone in there, and that would make it accidental if that's the case. Or arson, if anyone wanted to press it."

The building, at 2225 Forrest St., is one of several buildings in the Evansville area owned by P&P Construction of Ripley, records show. The burned building, which was on the site since 1955, was one of six owned by the firm that was condemned for demolition by the city.

The building had an electrical cable wired into the fixture, but Dyersburg Electric System had placed a boot to prevent anyone from tapping onto the line.

Dyersburg Police in October found evidence of an active methamphetamine lab in one of the buildings.

A fire at 380 Boothspoint Rd. in Lenox was destroyed on Sunday after a fire reported at 1 a.m. Investigators said the fact there was no electricity to the residence, weather conditions were clear and cold with no storm activity made the report the fire was "suspicious in nature."

Kenny Sykes of Finley owns the Lenox property.