A vacant mobile home at 88 Jackson Lane West in northern Greene County was destroyed early today by a fire of undetermined origin.

Deputy Sheriff Roy Milton, who responded to the 3:30 a.m. blaze, said he had been unable to determine who owned the mobile home. Milton also said he understood that the mobile home had been condemned earlier this year.

When firefighters from the Baileyton-based United Volunteer Fire Department were dispatched to the blaze about 3:30 a.m., a 911 dispatcher told them via radio that neighbors thought an elderly woman might be inside the mobile home.

The dispatcher also was heard to tell firefighters by radio that the mobile home was already "on the ground" at the time the blaze was reported.

But United VFD firefighter Jamie Palmer said at the scene early today that firefighters were told by other neighbors that the woman formerly occupying the mobile home had moved out some time ago.

At least four United VFD fire trucks and about a dozen firefighters responded to the scene, located about six miles north of Baileyton off the Horton Highway.

When a Greeneville Sun reporter reached the scene at the end of a dirt road about 5 a.m., the mobile home lay in smoldering ruins and a pickup truck parked beside it appeared to have been heavily damaged by flames.

An early arriving firefighter had been heard to tell 911 earlier that a vehicle beside the mobile home was on fire when he reached the scene.

Firefighters shuttled water to the scene in tanker trucks to extinguish the ruins of the mobile home and were seen using a thermal-imaging camera to check the ruins for hot spots about 5 a.m.

Also responding to the scene were a Greeneville Light & Power System crew and a Greene County-Greeneville Emergency Medical Services ambulance.