Police: Nashville woman set fire to neighbors' luxury cars

Metro police charged an East Nashville woman Thursday with arson after they say she set two neighbors' luxury-model cars ablaze, causing a raging fire that took firefighters nearly an hour to snuff out.

Chantel Kimble, 19, who suffered second- and third-degree burns during what firefighters described as an inferno, was booked into the Davidson County Jail on Thursday afternoon in connection with the July 17 fires, court papers show.

According to an arrest affidavit, Kimble admitted to investigators that just before 2:45 a.m. on the day of the crime, she grabbed a gas can from her house and walked a short distance to 730 N. Fifth Ave., where she set fire to a BMW and a Lexus.

Kimble said she "drenched the BMW with gasoline, took a piece of paper from her pocket and lit it with a cigarette lighter and threw it on the car."

In doing so, her gas can caught fire, causing her to drop it and kick it into the street, the affidavit continues.

As it dropped, gas spilled onto her legs and hands, causing second- and third-degree burns.

Kimble then walked home to treat the burns, the affidavit states.

"This thing was raging," Nashville fire spokesman Brian Haas said Friday. "This reckless fire required three of our heavy vehicles to put out because of the heat and intensity with which it burned. Magnesium and gasoline underneath one of the vehicles was so hot that we had to use heavy equipment to lift it so that we could get water and foam underneath."

Meanwhile, Haas added, the quickly spilling gasoline was flowing toward a storm drain, forcing firefighters to divert resources to stop that as well.

Thankfully, Haas said, no one was seriously injured during the fire, which took 45 minutes to put out.

On Friday, a motive in the case was not known and Davidson County Sheriff's Office records showed Kimble was free on $10,000 bail.

Reach Natalie Alund at 615-259-8072. Follow her on Twitter @nataliealund.