Manufacturing, Other - Manufacturing Ashland, MS – Electrical fire at factory extinguished with help from sprinkler system September 7, 2018 viking210 An electrical fire that started at a factory in Ashland Tuesday afternoon is still under investigation. According to Benton County Fire Investigator Randy Hobson, some electrical wiring on the outside of Abby Manufacturing in Ashland apparently caught fire around 4:45 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 4. The fire spread to a nearby pile of tires causing thick, black smoke to fill the air around the factory. The cause of the electrical fire is unknown at this time. Ashland Fire Chief Chris Shoup used a backhoe to move the smoldering tires away from the building to avoid further damage to the building if the fire was to reignite Tuesday night. The outside of the Abby Manufacturing plant received some fire damage. However, there was also a lot of water damage from the sprinkler system on the interior of the plant. Ashland Fire Department, Snow Lake Fire Department and Able’s Store Fire Department all responded to the fire. “I would like to say ‘thank you’ to all the fire departments that responded,” said Hobson. “Everybody pitched in. The police department and sheriff’s department helped and the highway patrol blocked off the road for us. If it hadn’t been for them the whole building would have caught on fire.” Firefighters had the fire contained around 6 p.m. Abby Manufacturing is a fabricated steel and aluminum products manufacturer. The company was founded in 1994 in Walnut.
