By Jennifer Reyes
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Arson investigators will try to determine whether an overnight house fire was intentionally set with the occupants still inside.
It broke out around 2 a.m. Wednesday at a home on Jones Avenue. When crews arrived on the scene, they found heavy smoke and the resident was trying to battle the blaze himself with a garden hose.
The owner of the home said he was sleeping when he heard someone calling out "fire". He went outside and found flames on the back of his house.
There was a toddler and two other adults inside the home, but they all made it out safely.
"It's crazy. 2 o'clock in the morning somebody setting the house on fire with a baby inside, it just ain't right," said resident Steven Rainey.
"Anytime time that someone has the nerve -- as I would say -- to start a fire knowing there are occupants inside the residence, that person needs to be off the street. Our arson investigators will do their best to find this person and bring them to justice," said Ricky Taylor with the Nashville Fire Department.
The homeowner said someone broke a window and he thinks it could be the same person who started the blaze.
He told NewsChannel 5 he had a yard sale about two weeks ago and there were some things left over from that still outside and it's possible that someone might have intentionally set them on fire.
Arson investigators will be on the scene Wednesday to determine what started the fire, and whether or not it was arson.
A firefighter twisted his ankle and had to be taken to the hospital,
Fire crews said even though the homeowner acted quickly to put out the fire, they don't recommend people do it because it can be very dangerous.
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