Catoosa County detectives investigating arson case on Holcomb Road

Catoosa County detectives are investigating what they believe to be an arson case after a vehicle was found on fire on Holcomb Road early Tuesday morning, Nov. 14.

Sheriff’s deputies were dispatched to 1790 Holcomb Road at 4:19 a.m. after a neighbor called 911 to report a truck with a fire crackling in its bed, police say.

Deputy Keith Cantrell says he arrived at the location to find a red 1997 GMC Sonoma pickup truck parked next to the residence with an active fire in the bed.

“I observed two bails of hay and a gas can in the bed of the truck next to what appeared to be a liquor bottle with a paper towel hanging out of it and some sort of flammable liquid,” Cantrell said.

The liquid in the bottle turned out to be gasoline, reports show.

Cantrell was able to remove the bottle from the truck and move it away from the vehicle and residence to keep it from catching any of the property on fire.

The neighbor who called in the incident said she was watching TV when she heard a loud car on Holcomb Road. When she looked out the window, she claimed to see a sports car leaving the area with the truck bed on fire.

The residents of the home told police they didn’t have any idea who would have tried to start the fire.

One man, who used to live at the 1790 Holcomb Road, stated he encountered an incident a couple of weeks ago, in which he left one of his trucks at a storage building and returned from out of town to find that someone had drilled a hole in the gas tank.

Anyone with information about the incident is encouraged to contact the Catoosa County Sheriff’s Office at 706-935-2424.