KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WATE) — It’s been a troubling trend in Knoxville – the number of house fires is on the rise and it doesn’t seem to be slowing down.
The Knoxville Fire Department and Rural Metro Fire both say they’ve seen an increase in house fires recently related to the cold weather.
“We see more house fires in the wintertime because of cold weather than we do anything. Kitchen fires are still number one, but this time of year, it all it all boils down to heating,” said Jeff Bagwell, a spokesperson for Rural Metro Fire.
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“We had somewhere around 200 reported fires in the city of Knoxville last year. Now when we say reported fires that someone that’s called 911 and said that there is a fire in their home, that can be anything from a sparking outlet to a kitchen fire to a fully involved fire in a home,” added Mark Wilbanks the Assistant Chief of the City of Knoxville Fire Department…