Fire erupts at abandoned flower shop in East Nashville
Firefighters are trying to figure out how the fire started.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) - A vacant building caught fire early Wednesday morning in East Nashville, according to the Nashville Fire Department.
The fire broke out at an old flower shop on Gallatin Pike, between Greenland Avenue and McAlpine Avenue.
For hours crews battled the fire at the former home of Bates Florist, which closed its door six years ago. The owner tells WSMV that they were weeks away from putting the building on the market and said the fire couldn’t have happened at a worse time.
In the years following the closure, he claims that squatters started occupying the property. In an effort to prevent the squatting, the owner says he boarded the business up multiple times over the years.
While investigators with Nashville Fire have not released a cause of the fire, he and other business owners believe it may be arson when you consider the history and the fact that a gas can was left at the scene.
Nashville Fire said there was no electricity connected to the building nor were there any reports of any injuries.
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