Manufacturing, Manufacturing Plant Knoxville, TN – Sprinkler system extinguished fire at plastics manufacturing plant November 13, 2018 viking210 Rural Metro Fire responded to a fire at Republic Plastics on South National Drive around 5:30 Sunday evening. When crews arrived on scene, they found a large smoke charged building and no evacuation in progress. Rural Fire Metro said after their initial investigation, they found a roll of product that had been on fire but extinguished by the sprinkler system. Officials said large fans in the building along with fans from the fire department were used to ventilate the building back to safe levels so employees could re-enter the building. The exact cause of the fire is under investigation by Knox County Fire Investigators.