A 1:30 p.m. fire in the fifth-floor study lounge on January 28, 2008, sent a student and two staff members to UT Medical Center suffering from smoke inhalation. The entire fifth-floor floor was filled with smoke. The two staff members who suffered smoke inhalation problems were the two who first attacked the fire with fire extinguishers. All three were treated and released.
Humes was evacuated for a second time on January 29 as a 9:57 a.m. fire burned a bulletin board in a third-floor corridor. Because of the two fires, the State Fire Marshal’s office conducted interviews and established a 24-hour fire watch in the residence hall. The watch had staff members on alert and UT Police and Knoxville Fire Department members patrolling the corridors. No one was injured in the second fire, which was extinguished by maintenance workers.
In March, Amy M. Ellis, a former housekeeper, was arrested and charged with aggravated arson for setting the fires. She had been employed by UT in November and was fired the day of the second fire.