4/14/2009

Chattanooga fire investigators have charged the 9-year-old boy with aggravated arson and reckless endangerment in connection with the fire he allegedly started at the Family Dollar Store in Hixson yesterday.  Lieutenant Anthony Moore with the Fire Investigation Division said the youth was taken to the Juvenile Detention Center last night and was expected to go before a juvenile court judge this morning to face the charges.

The boy told firefighters that he was mad at his mother, so he walked to rear of the store and set rolls of bathroom tissue on fire. He said he used matches that were on display not far from where the bathroom tissue display was located.  The boy said he watched the fire grow for a while, and then made his way out the front entrance.  The boy's mother turned her son over to the fire investigators when her son told her that he started the fire.  The investigation continues.

The fire gutted the entire building, which had two to three layers of roofing materials that hampered the firefighters' efforts to gain access to the attic, where the fire was located.  Firefighters said the old building did not have a sprinkler system, and was packed with lots of merchandise that served as excellent fuel for the fire.  The dollar loss for the building and its contents was expected to exceed $1 million.

The firefighters did manage to keep the fire from destroying an adjacent building, which was previously a grocery store but is now vacant.  The store employed seven people.  Chattanooga police, Hamilton County EMS and Chattanooga-Hamilton County Rescue also provided assistance on the scene.

###