Arson suspected in Bell Buckle fire

(T-G File Photo by David Melson) [Click to enlarge]

One of two fires in Bell Buckle since Friday has been seen as suspicious and while there had been no determination by noon Monday that it's arson, two state arson investigators were on the scene.

"It's suspicious and we're looking into it," said Mead McWhorter, a special agent with the Bomb and Arson Section of the Tennessee Department of Commerce and Insurance. "We'll see what we can find out" about a fire that burned two barns on Cumberland Street.

At least one of the barns was built by Sawney Webb, founder of the Webb School, according to a school employee.

Sheriff Randall Boyce showed McWhorter and Special Agent Lee Porter the fire scene and said it was difficult to say which of the two barns burned first.

"When you have two so close and one burns, it's going to catch on to the other," Boyce said of the barns that contained a great deal of cedar wood.

It was too soon to say whether that fire was arson, McWhorter said.

Bob Pollard, a state spokesman for the Bomb and Arson Section, said, "The magnitude of the fire didn't leave a lot on the scene."

However, it was clear from comments by Hazel Young on Hannah Street that trash had been burned too close to a house, a tree and under utility wires so the trash fire spread and threatened her home.

Both fires were Friday night.

"We're in the early stages of the investigation," Pollard said of the fire at Webb School.

Pollard encourages anyone with information that could help the investigation to call the arson hot line. The number is (800) 762-3017.

"They can remain anonymous," Pollard said. "There's a reward of up to $1,500" for information that leads to the arrest and conviction of a suspect.

McWhorter and Porter "have some interviews to conduct," Pollard said.

It was obvious, however, that if the barn fires at Webb School were arson, they couldn't have been set by the man charged with the string of fires in north Bedford County on Oct. 25. That'"s because the man charged in those fires, James Michael Beddingfield, 29, of Christiana, remains in the Bedford County Jail.

The fires Beddingfield is accused of setting "had a major impact on the community, not taking anything away from the fires Friday, but we had officers drop what they were doing to come in and get that crime solved," Pollard said.

"The people in the community need to know they are safe," he said, explaining that the department will redirect virtually all its investigation resources to saturate a case when necessary.