Chief says fireworks likely caused July 4 house fire in Trenton

TRENTON, Tenn. — A home burns down in Gibson County, and investigators say Independence Day fireworks may be the spark that caused the blaze.

“Right now, we think it’s fireworks,” Trenton Fire Chief Terrence Elam said.

The Trenton Fire Department worked for hours to put out flames at the home in the 400 block of East Second Street.

“While we were on the way we were advised it was a vacant building,” Chief Elam said. “Once we got there, we found it to be fully involved.”

Neighbors say the Trenton home has been vacant for years.

Crews got the call around 8:30 Tuesday night, and fire had already spread from the front porch to the back of the home.

“We kind of think someone was inside and maybe having a firework war,” Chief Elam said. “And fireworks were set off on the inside and caught the house on fire.”

Elam says lighting fireworks indoors is never a good idea, but he’s thankful no one was hurt during the blaze.

“It’s very dangerous, but most people use fireworks responsibly,” Chief Elam said. “Every once in a while you have a situation like this, which could have been bad, but we’re glad it turned out good.”

At this time the fire hasn’t been ruled an arson, but the fire department plans to seek help from Trenton police to find those responsible.

“Just trying to gather as munch information as we can, and once we get as much as we can we are going to pass it along to them,” Chief Elam said.

Elam says an arson investigator will be called in next week.