Shortly before midnight, and again shortly before 2:00 a.m., first responders were called to reports of fires in Knoxville.

The first report was to the Marion County Courthouse. Knoxville Fire Chief Cal Wyman tells KNIA/KLRS News that when power was lost in parts of western Knoxville, an alarm alerted authorities. When crews arrived, smoke appeared to be coming from the roof of the courthouse, when it was actually fumes venting from a diesel generator that had turned on in the courthouse basement. There was no fire. Knoxville Fire and Rescue, Knoxville Police, and the Marion County Sheriff’s Office assisted at the scene.

A couple of hours later an alarm at the Knoxville School District’s Performing Arts alerted authorities. Chief Wyman explained what happened. “When the power went out in Knoxville, it lost a phase, and with the solar panels on KPAC, the energy started reversing itself. Going through the inverters in the wrong direction, when it’s not designed to do, it overheated the wiring, and started melting and burning the wiring inside of the electrical room that runs the solar panels.” Wyman says there is minor smoke damage and damage to the electrical system for the panels.  Knoxville Fire and Rescue, the Knoxville Township Rural Fire Department, Knoxville Police, and the Marion County Sheriff’s Office assisted at the scene.

The cause of the power outage is unknown.