A search is underway for a person who allegedly left the scene of a house fire in Knox County, according to Rural Metro Fire. Crews responded around 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday to a mobile home fire in the 6300 block of Clinton Highway, where they found smoke pouring from several windows of the structure.
Firefighters arrived to find one occupant and a pet already safely outside, and the fire was put out quickly, per Rural Metro, as reported by WVLT. No injuries were reported, though the home sustained significant damage. The Knox County Sheriff's Office is now looking for a roommate who left the scene shortly after the fire broke out, per Rural Metro, and the cause of the fire remains under investigation.
A Familiar Stretch of Road for Fire Crews
Wednesday's fire adds to a string of recent blazes along the busy Clinton Highway corridor in Powell. Just weeks earlier, on September 2, Rural Metro Fire and Knox County deputies investigated an intentionally set apartment fire in West Knoxville tied to a domestic dispute, an incident that also ended with deputies issuing a search notice for a fleeing suspect, as Hoodline reported in its piece on the Cadillac-linked intentional fire. In December 2025, a separate mobile home fire along the same Clinton Highway corridor killed three pets, though no people were hurt, according to WBIR.
Further back, in February 2026, Knox County Sheriff's Office deputies and Rural Metro Fire crews responded to a single-wide mobile home fire in the 7800 block of Stanley Road. Firefighters at that scene discovered a victim inside who had sustained a fatal gunshot wound, according to the Knox County Sheriff's Office. Clinton Highway, also known as U.S. Route 25W, is a four-lane road with businesses.
How Fire Investigations Work in Unincorporated Knox County
The article does not detail Knox County's fire-investigation staffing. Rural Metro Fire itself operates 17 fire stations across the county and serves unincorporated areas through a private subscription model.
The cause of the Clinton Highway fire remains under investigation. Should evidence eventually show the fire was intentionally set, Tennessee law classifies knowingly damaging a structure by fire without an owner's consent as arson, a Class C felony, according to Justia Law. If a person is present inside the structure when a fire is set, the charge can rise to aggravated arson, a Class A felony carrying 15 to 60 years in prison and fines up to $50,000, per the Oberman & Rice Law Firm.
Statewide Trends and Reporting Suspicious Fires
The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation's annual crime report, released this month, found that overall property crimes across the state fell nearly 17% in 2025, with arson identified as a Group A offense, according to the Kingsport Times News. Anyone with information on suspicious fires can call the statewide Tennessee Arson Hotline at 1-800-762-3017, which offers cash awards for tips.
