KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — UPDATE 12:00 PM MONDAY: Fire investigators and city officials will spend Monday looking into the burned ruins of the old Standard Knitting Mill building, following Sunday's double fire.
On Monday morning, the fire department finished suppression operations at the site south of Washington Avenue east of downtown, according to Knoxville Fire Department spokesman Brent Seymour. The complex has been empty for years.
"Different personnel from the Fire Department and the city will be on the site at various times today doing assessments and planning," Seymour said in a statement Monday morning.
KFD's Fire Investigation Unit is looking into the cause and circumstances that led to Sunday's blaze, the second to break out on the property during the day.
"Due to the instability of the building, access will be limited for the investigation team," Seymour's statement reads.
The building was the home of Delta Apparel until 2007. Since then, it was bought by a developer in South Carolina, WRS Inc. Real Estate Investments, in 2019.
Kevin Rogers, the company's executive vice president, said they still have plans to redevelop the property, but those plans will depend on the extent of damage caused by the fire.
"Determining the extent of damage may take some time and depending on that extent, it may or may not alter the manner in which we hope to redevelop the property," he said. "We’re heartened to hear that no lives were lost in the fire and immensely grateful for the professionalism and prompt action of the Knoxville Fire Department and the Knoxville Police Department."
Rogers said the company has plans for the historic building that it hopes would maintain as much of its character as possible, saying they hope to make an announcement about their vision for it in the coming months.
PREVIOUS STORY: Firefighters contained the flames Sunday night at the Standard Knitting Mill east of downtown.
The smoke from the Washington Avenue complex could be seen for miles when the fire was at its peak.
Billy Boling watched the entire scene unfold from his back porch. He lives no more than 200 feet away from the Standard Knitting Mill building.
“When I come out, I mean the whole corner up there was on fire, pieces were all up in the air, big pieces that floated down catching the grass on fire. I was scared it was gonna catch the house on fire," Boling said.
He gathered with some of his neighbors to watch firefighters put the flames out. Part of the crew set up a hose and ladder right in Boling's backyard.
"Pretty close, I mean it’s right across the street there," Boling said.
Boling said he never saw anything like it. He could feel the heat from the fire by just standing on his lawn.
"I’ve seen fires but nothing like that," he said.
The flames started to ravage a few minutes before sunset. The smoke could be seen in the sky for miles. Hundreds of people from across the Scruffy City gathered to watch off 6th street. A few people even sent drones in the air for aerial views of the building.
The chief of the Knoxville Fire Department, Stan Sharp, said the team got the fire contained fairly quickly. He applauded the department's teamwork, hard work and persistence on this fire.
"It's fully contained, it’s not spreading, we will continue until the fire is put out. But, our focus is also just keeping our folks safe the rest of the night," Sharp said.
One of the big concerns with a structure fire like this is the possibility for the floors to cave in. The department first attacked the fire with water hoses from above and the sides. Once they evaluated the situation and weighed the risk of collapse, firefighters were able to go inside to put out any remaining flames.
As of Sunday night, there were no reported injuries.
The Knoxville Fire Department believes this fire was accidentally started by people who were living in the abandoned building.
“We have had incidents in here before and you fence it off, you secure it as best as you can yet, people still get in,” Sharp said.
This is the second fire in the Standard Knitting Mill within 24 hours.
Sunday morning, KFD responded to a fire at the vacant Standard Knitting Mill at 1201 Abilene Place.
Crews responded to the reports around 10:50 a.m. When they arrived, crews noticed smoke coming from the second floor of the structure, KFD said.
As units were arriving, several people were seen running from the building. KFD's Fire Investigation Unit detained one person and the Knoxville Police Department detained two others, according to KFD.
KFD said the Sunday evening fire is not a result of the warming fire earlier in the day. According to Sharp, their crews came through and secured the premises following the warming fire.
However, Sharp said this is a continuum of a problem the city has had with people taking shelter at this building.
Boling, who lives next door to it, hopes this fire helps put an end to the problem.
“It’s hard to sleep at night knowing people are in there and stuff like this can happen. It’s dangerous,” Boling said.
Crews worked throughout the night on Sunday to put the fire out.