Firefighters from the Midway and Mosheim Volunteer Fire Departments were sent twice overnight to "suspicious" fires that destroyed a vacant Midway Circle residence.

The fires came on the heels of two other fires that destroyed vacant houses in the Mosheim area since June 3.

Scott Allen, Chief of the Mosheim VFD, said firefighters were dispatched the first time to the vacant two-story frame house at 245 Midway Circle about 11:30 p.m. Wednesday.

Allen said firefighters were unable to learn who owned the house, which was currently being marketed by a Morristown real estate firm.

"We had just finished a softball game and were at the fire hall when we got the call," Allen said. "But the house was fully engulfed in flames when we reached the scene just a few minutes later."

Allen said six fire engines and 21 firefighters from the two volunteer fire departments managed to extinguish the fire.

"The structure was still standing when we left," Allen said. "We got back to the station about 3:30 a.m. But about 3:45 a.m., 911 dispatched us back to the scene again, saying the fire had rekindled."

Allen said firefighters found the house again engulfed in flames when they arrived.

"It was burning worse the second time than it was the first," he said. "I've been doing this for 18 years (fighting fires) and that was no rekindle."

Allen said firefighters detected a strong odor of what they believed to be gasoline or some other volatile chemical at the fire scene on their second arrival.

Witnesses, he said, told 911 that they had heard an explosion shortly before the second fire was discovered.

Firefighters remained on the fire scene the second time until after 5:30 a.m., Allen said.

He noted that Greene County Sheriff's Department fire investigators were scheduled to visit the fire scene today in an effort to determine the cause of the blaze.

Allen said he wished to thank the Greene County Chapter of the American Red Cross for the assistance to firefighters provided by a Red Cross volunteers who brought cold drinks and snacks to firefighters.

"They were a real lifesaver for us," he said.

Also responding to the fires were units of the Greene County Sheriff's Department, Greene County-Greeneville Emergency Medical Services and the Greeneville Light & Power System.

The fires early today at the vacant Midway Circle residence took place only a short distance from the location where another vacant house burned on Third Street in Midway early June 3.

Mosheim Volunteer Fire Department Chief Allen said about 6:45 a.m. June 3 that firefighter Matthew McCamey was treated at Laughlin Memorial Hospital after that blaze.

Chief Allen said McCamey was overcome by heat and smoke while helping fight a fire of undetermined origin at an abandoned house at 15 Third Street in Midway.

Firefighters from the Mosheim and Midway Volunteer Fire Departments had been dispatched to the fire about 1:30 a.m. that morning, according to Allen. He said firefighters remained on the scene until about 4:30 a.m.

The structure was fully engulfed when firefighters arrived, Chief Allen said.

He noted that the Midway VFD sent three trucks and eight firefighters to the scene while the Mosheim VFD sent three trucks and 16 firefighters to the blaze.

In addition, the same two fire departments battled a fire early Sunday, June 8, at a vacant house on the Old Knoxville Highway.