UPDATE: Arrest made in fire at The Locker Room

Posted by: Marlenia Thornton

mthornton@klkntv.com

UPDATE: Lincoln Police have arrested a man for the 4-alarm fire at The Locker Room.  

James Cothran, 66, was arrested for first degree attempted arson and second degree arson on Thursday.  

Police say he was in the area of The Locker Room around midnight and used a lighter to burn spider webs because he has a fear of spiders and termites.  

Police say he’s also for trying to set fire to Prescott Place, where Cothran lives.  

He tried to burn a column on the front porch and fire investigators found burns on the wall in his room.

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Some Lincoln business owners got caught by surprise Thursday morning.

Lincoln Fire and Rescue fought a four–alarm fire at this complex near 47th and Prescott.

Samuel Grandjean was one of those owners.

He was at work when a young lady told him about some flames coming from the back of the building.

"So, I walked to the back of the building and flames were coming out very small flames but just above the electric conduit,” The Swiss Clock Owner Samuel Grandjean said.

Shortly after, crews arrived.

They soon learned the fire was much more than expected with a lot flames burning in the back of the locker room.

Firefighters had trouble getting into the store at first because of the amount of smoke and heat.

So, they had to cut out some holes in the roof.

Then, they busted the door.

"Smoke started to come like crazy out of the door…black smoke. That’s when I realized something must have been burning a lot longer than we could detect,” Grandjean said.

Firefighters upgraded to a fourth alarm to make sure they had enough people to stay ahead of the fire and limit its destruction.

"Old buildings like this there’s generally has been lots of renovations made over the years, so there’s a lot of void spaces that fire can get into and just takes a lot of people on scene,” Battalion Chief Jeremy Gegg said.

LFR said four companies were affected forcing them to close for the day.

The fire was contained to the locker room, which has the most damage.

It’s closed until further notice.

Fire investigators don’t have a total damage estimate just yet, but they say there’s at least $100,000 of damage to the locker room.

There’s also no word on the cause.

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Posted by: Channel 8 Eyewitness News

8@klkntv.com

Lincoln Fire and Rescue battled a four-alarm fire at a strip mall near 47th and Prescott Thursday morning.

Firefighters arrived around 7:30 a.m. on a call of flames coming from the back of the building near an electrical unit.

They said when they arrived the fire was bigger than expected, so they upgraded the blaze to a fourth alarm to get more crews there.

LFR said they needed more crews involved to prevent more destruction to the businesses.

Four businesses were affected, but  LFR said The Locker Room was the most damaged.

Firefighters said those companies won’t be open for the rest of day and The Locker Room is closed until further notice.

There are no damage estimates at this time.

Hear more details at 5, 6 and 10 tonight on Channel 8 Eyewitness News. 

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Posted By: Channel 8 Eyewitness News

8@klkntv.com

Lincoln Fire and Rescue are on the scene of a 4-alarm at The Locker Room near 47th and Prescott.

Multiple units are at the scene and we have one of our photographers there gathering information.  We have no reports of injuries.

This is a developing story and we’ll bring you more details when they are made available.