Woman charged in apartment fire

A woman is facing six felony counts of first-degree arson after being accused of starting a fire at a High Street quadplex apartment building Thursday night.

According to Floyd County Jail reports:

Norma Jean Thornton, 45, 1201 Martha Berry Blvd., Room 120, was taken into custody by the Cave Spring Police Department at 3 p.m. Friday, the day after she used a lighter to set a king-size mattress on fire in a storage room at 1602 High St., causing significant damage to the building and collapsing part of the roof.

The fire started at 7:41 p.m., with Rome-Floyd County firefighters arriving to find one side of the building completely up in flames. The four apartments were all occupied but no one was injured. However, the damage from the blaze displaced six people who resided there.

Fire Marshal Johnie Evans said the storage room was being used as a bedroom at the time of the fire.

Firefighters stayed on scene until after 11 p.m. to overhaul the fire. Also, Dean Avenue was shut down for several hours and traffic rerouted while fire crews worked.

Thornton remained in jail without bond Friday night.

Car fire under investigation

Floyd County police are trying to find out more about a vehicle fire on Ireland Drive early Thursday.

According to Floyd County police reports:

Shortly before 3 a.m. Thursday, Floyd County police officers were dispatched to Ireland Drive for a vehicle fire.

When officers got on scene, they found the vehicle had been destroyed by the blaze. Due to the damage, officers were not able to identify the type of vehicle or who may belong to.

The body of the vehicle seemed to match that of a Jeep Grand Cherokee, and a Jeep Commander has recently been reported stolen.