ELIZABETHTON — An arson investigator with the Carter County Sheriff’s Department blamed an early Sunday morning fire that destroyed a house in the Fitzsimmons Hill area on the manufacture of methamphetamine.
Investigator Travis Ludlow said about half of the home of Ricky and Penny Oliver, 111 Dan Cole Road, was burned in the fire. The remaining half sustained heavy water and smoke damage. Unlike other fires blamed on methamphetamine manufacturing, Ludlow said Sunday’s fire was not caused by an explosion. He said it appears that the remains of a manufacturing operation caused the fire.
“Those chemicals used in the process are still volatile,” Ludlow said.
Read more at the Johnson City Press.