Manufacturing, Manufacturing Plant

Spring Hill, TN – Sprinkler system helps contain blaze at GM plant; welding sparks likely cause of fire

About 240 workers were evacuated from the General Motors Spring Hill Manufacturing Facility on Wednesday after a fire broke out on the third floor of one of its production buildings.

Six Columbia and four Spring Hill fire trucks responded to the scene, Columbia Assistant Fire Chief Tim Holt said.

Firefighters received the call at 3:03 p.m. and rushed to GM’s body shop off Nashville Highway and Saturn Parkway.

Crews found an air-handling machine on fire, spreading smoke in the building, Holt said.

“We got it knocked down quickly, within 15 minutes,” Holt said. “The sprinkler system helped keep the fire in place.”

One GM security guard on the scene was treated for smoke inhalation, he said.

The incident likely was caused by welding sparks, which caught cardboard on fire, Holt said.

Columbia’s fire department had 16 firefighters on scene.

GM spokesman Tom W. Wickham said the body shop was closed for the rest of Wednesday evening and will reopen Thursday morning.

“We had to clean up a lot of water and debris,” Wickham said.

A similar incident brought fire crews to the GM plant just after midnight May 20. No one was hurt then, but the building was evacuated.