Smoke pours from the front door of the Dollar General Store in Norton as the first emergency responders arrive at the scene. Authorities say they have identified a suspect possibly involved in this and a fire at a Coeburn Dollar General store about 90 minutes later.
Smoke pours from the front door of the Dollar General Store in Norton as the first emergency responders arrive at the scene. Authorities say they have identified a suspect possibly involved in this and a fire at a Coeburn Dollar General store about 90 minutes later.
NORTON — Norton and Coeburn police investigators say they have a suspect in two fires at Dollar General stores in the two locations.
Norton Police Sgt. Greg Mays said Monday that a male juvenile was identified through security camera recordings as a suspect in the fire that has left the Norton Dollar General closed since Friday.
Coeburn Police Capt. Ryan Gardner said Monday that investigators are still reviewing store video but have also identified a suspect in a similar fire at the Coeburn store on Friday.
The two fires occurred within a 90-minute span, with Norton dispatchers receiving a fire call at 12:51 p.m. and Coeburn getting a call at 2:16 p.m.
Mays said the Norton suspect appears to be the same person allegedly involved in the Coeburn fire.
Mays said his department plans to file a juvenile petition against the youth, and Gardner said his department is reviewing the case.
After the Norton fire was extinquished, firefighters wheeled out shopping carts filled with smoldering packages of paper towels and foam plates and bowls.
Norton Fire Chief Todd Lagow said on Friday that the fire appeared to be centered at the center rear of the sales floor. He said a store customer used a fire extinguisher to knock down the blaze and keep it from spreading to a shelf full of lighter fluid.
Coeburn Police Lt. Randall Brickey said the fire in that town’s Dollar General started in a box of diapers.
No one was injured in either fire, Mays and Gardner said.
The Coeburn store reopened the day of its fire while the Norton store remains closed. The Kingsport Times News has reached out to Dollar General’s corporate office for comment.
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