Tennessee Planned Parenthood Building Completely Destroyed in Fire

 

A Planned Parenthood in Knoxville, Tennessee was completely destroyed by an early morning fire on Friday.

The cause of the fire is currently unknown.

“This is a huge loss for the community, and we hope that there are no resulting injuries or damage to neighboring properties,” Planned Parenthood of Tennessee and Mississippi president and CEO Ashley Coffield said. “We are fully cooperating with the authorities as they assess the cause of the fire.”

Knoxville News Sentinel reported:

Knoxville’s Planned Parenthood building was engulfed in flames early Friday morning and is a total loss.

Fire crews were called about 6:40 a.m. as heavy smoke was coming out of the back of the structure, Assistant Chief Brent Seymour said. There were no injuries to report. The building was being renovated and the clinic had not been used in some time.

Seymour said it’s too early in the investigation, with parts of the building unsafe to enter, to be able to say what caused the fire.

Representatives from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and the FBI have already made contact with local officials and will help if it’s deemed the fire’s origin is suspicious. Crews are currently working with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and the Knox County Fire Department’s investigation unit.