Tag Archives: Tennessee

Other - Storage / Warehouse, Storage / Warehouse

Chattanooga, TN – Fire in cotton bales at ADM plant contained with help from sprinkler system

Chattanooga firefighters battled a fire in South Chattanooga at ADM Southern Cellulose Products at 103 W. 45th Street on Thursday. Chattanooga Fire Department spokesman Bruce Garner says though there was only light smoke visible from the outside, once inside the large building, they could see dozens of cotton bales that were on fire.

CFD says the company had recently repaired the sprinkler system in the building and it activated properly, which helped to keep the fire contained. A total of 13 fire companies responded to this fire. The fire was brought under control in 15 to 20 minutes.

No injuries were reported. The cause of the fire will be ruled accidental.  Company executives told firefighters that the bales are held together by wire, and they believe a wire on one of the bales might have created a spark against the concrete while being moved by a forklift. When the spark hit the cotton, a fire broke out.  About 200 bales of cotton were involved in the fire.  The dollar loss was estimated at $30,000.

The building itself was not damaged and company executives said the fire will have minimal impact on its operation.

Office Building, Other Business

Chattanooga, TN – Office fire controlled by sprinkler system

Firefighters responded to a business fire around 7:21 Tuesday morning.  It happened at the Data Storage Center on Crutchfield Street.  Fire officials say an employee smelled smoke around a computer in an office. Crews say when they arrived  found a small fire.  Six fire trucks responded as s a part of protocol for a business fire.  Officials say the company’s sprinkler system activated containing fire to one room. Crews are cleaning excess water from the fire sprinkler system. There were no injuries. The cause is under investigation.

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.

Hotel / Motel, Hotel / Restaurant

Nashville, TN – Sprinkler system activates; Assists firefighters in hotel fire

A Nashville hotel has been evacuated after crews responded to a fire early Friday afternoon. It happened at the Fairview Inn and Suites located at 901 Division Street in the Gulch.

Initial reports indicated the fire may have been electrical in nature. Authorities said the it started in a utility room on the top floor next to the rooftop bar called Up. “They were able to extinguish it but we had a lot of water damage secondary to the sprinkler system going off,” District Chief Tim Moyers said.

The hotel is currently without power and there is extensive water damage inside. All guests have been removed from the building. No one was injured.

“As far as we know, we are here for two more nights or they will find us somewhere else to stay for two more nights,” visitor Delmore Spangler said. An employee with the hotel told News 2 they are working with all of the guest to relocate them to their sister hotels.

The fire remains under investigation. Additional information was not released.

Grocery Store / Super Center, Retail

Knoxville, TN – Grocery store fire put out by sprinkler system; Store quickly returns to normal operations

Fire crews filled the parking lot at a North Knoxville grocery store Monday night after a vent fire in a back bathroom filled the store with smoke. The call came just before 10 p.m. at Kroger, 2217 N. Broadway, in the Broadway Shopping Center. Crews say the fire appeared to have started accidentally in an electrical vent in a back bathroom. The store’s sprinkler did its job and put the fire out.

The store filled with smoke and 20 people were evacuated. Investigators say no one was injured. Knoxville Fire Department spokesman Capt. D.J. Corcoran says fire inspectors were called to the scene to address inventory storage practices as store stock was blocking the cutoff for the sprinkler system.

The store later returned to normal operations

Other Business, Place of Worship

Church Hill, TN – Sprinkler system extinguishes arson fire at Baptist church

Six thousand dollars in reward money is being offered by the First Baptist Church of Church Hill ($5,000) and the Church Hill Police Department ($1,000) for information leading to the arrest and conviction of those responsible for an early Wednesday burglary and fire at the First Baptist Church of Church Hill on East Main Boulevard.

The church sustained fire, smoke and water damage early Wednesday apparently after burglars started two fires in the sanctuary. On Wednesday afternoon, Church Hill Police Chief Mark Johnson issued a news release on Wednesday afternoon about the incident in which he asked that anyone with knowledge of the crime call police.

“On March 23rd at approximately 2:50 a.m., officers with the Church Hill Police Department responded to a fire alarm at the First Baptist Church of Church Hill located at 202 E. Main Blvd.,” Chief Johnson wrote in the news release. “Church Hill Officers observed flames inside the sanctuary. The Church Hill Fire Department was paged out and responded to the scene. The fire was quickly extinguished by a combination of the sprinkler system and responding firefighters. However, the church was heavily damaged by smoke and water from the sprinkler system.”

The fire chief noted that by the time firefighters entered the church sanctuary, the church’s fire sprinklers had discharged, extinguishing the two fires in the altar area of the church. “We didn’t have to use any water to put out the fires,” Chief Wood said. “But the sanctuary was filled with smoke and we used fans to get as much of it out as possible.”

Firefighters quickly determined that the two sanctuary fires had been intentionally set, Chief Wood said. He noted that the fires remain under investigation by the Church Hill Police Department. A police spokesperson said this morning that a report about the fire was not yet on file and that Police Chief Mark Johnson was not available for comment.

The police chief noted in the news release that a CHPD investigation revealed that someone (likely more than one) gained entry to the church by an unknown means. “There is a possibility that the suspect(s) had access to one or more keys to the church,” Chief Johnson wrote.

However they entered the church, the suspect(s) committed petty vandalism by pouring toilet bowl cleaner onto the floor, the chief noted in news release. The suspect(s) also committed theft by removing multiple miscellaneous items from the locked music room, then placing the items in a pile outside (the church) before abandoning them, the chief wrote.

 “The suspect(s) deliberately set two fires near the stage/altar,” Chief Johnson wrote. “One in the middle. The other on the left side on the steps leading to the altar. we are estimating the fire, smoke, and water damage will end up exceeding a million dollars. We are excluding no one as a suspect, however, this may have crime may have been committed by young people.”

The chief also noted that Church Hill police are in possession of items the suspect(s) handled and will be forwarding them to the TBI crime lab with a request to detect latent fingerprints. “We have also made a request to obtain video footage of a nearby business with surveillance equipment,” Chief Johnson wrote.

The chief noted that First Baptist Church of Church Hill is offering a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person(s) responsible for the damage while the Church Hill Police Department is offering a separate $1,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person(s) responsible.

“I am asking anyone with any information on this despicable crime to contact us immediately by calling (423) 357-7181 or (423) 357-3487,” Chief Johnson wrote.

Manufacturing, Manufacturing Plant

Dandridge, TN – Fire at monofilaments plant extinguished by sprinklers; System credited with averting disaster

A fire suppression system averted potential disaster last Thursday afternoon at the Wetekam Monofilaments USA manufacturing facility in Dandridge. Fire Chief Andy Riley reported that the department responded at 12:07 p.m. to a fire alarm at the 93,000 square foot building, where a fire had filled the machine shop with thick smoke.

“The visibility was zero inside the building, but we were able to use a thermal imaging camera to determine that the fire had been put out by six sprinkler heads that had been activated.” Based in Germany, Wetekam makes yarns that are used in the weaving, automotive, medical, upholstery, and other industries. The company has over 30 workers locally and invested several million dollars in its plant in the Jefferson County Industrial Park.

Riley said all workers were evacuated from the building but were expected to be able to return to work this week since fire damage was contained to the machine shop wall and did not affect the production line. “This was a case where the fire suppression system did the job it was designed to do,” he said. “The back wall was apparently lit up in flames when the call came in, but the sprinklers got it out quickly.”

The fire was accidental, but the cause has not been determined, the chief said. No one was injured. The machine shop was unoccupied when the fire started, but employees in the general area reported hearing a crash before smelling smoke, Riley reported.

Firefighters were on the scene for about three hours at the 956 Pine drive building clearing smoke from the interior with heavy fans. Firefighters also used a power saw to cut into the rear wall and remove damaged insulation.

Volunteer firefighters from Kansas-Talbott and Lakeway Central responded under mutual aid but were diverted to another call in their district, Riley said. New Market and White Pine volunteer firefighters then responded to the Pine Drive location. A total of 22 firefighters worked on the operation.

Wetekam, one of the largest monofilament makers in Europe, bought the Dandridge plant two years ago. The company was established in 1965.

Hotel / Motel, Hotel / Restaurant

Oak Ridge, TN – Fire in air conditioning unit at Comfort Inn suppressed by sprinkler system

An Oak Ridge hotel that was shuttered after a fire prompted the evacuation of all guests early Saturday morning is expected to reopen either late Monday or early Tuesday, Oak Ridge Fire Marshal Travis Solomon said. The five-story, 112-room Comfort Inn at the corner of Rutgers and Illinois avenues was about 90 percent occupied, mostly with students participating in rowing practice and with off-road enthusiasts, when the fire was reported shortly after 5 a.m. Saturday.

The blaze was in an air-conditioning unit at one end of the fourth floor, Solomon said, and the fire department is still trying to determine what ignited the blaze. The hotel’s sprinkler system was activated by the blaze and helped suppress it, he said. “That shows that sprinkler systems, they not only save property, they save lives. It could have been a lot worse.”

The fourth-floor hallway was filled with thick black smoke, and firefighters had to assist people disoriented by it and help them down the stairwell, Solomon said. Three people were initially missing during the evacuation, and hotel staff “did a fantastic job determining who was missing and needed to be found.”

All were located. One person was evaluated for possible smoke inhalation but didn’t require medical attention. Solomon said hotel personnel found other hotels for the guests. Thirteen firefighters and seven firetrucks responded. The fire department is inspecting the hotel’s fire alarm and sprinkler system, Solomon said.

Retail, Shopping Mall

Cleveland, TN – Sprinklers help keep dumpster fire from spreading into store

One of the anchor stores at Bradley Square Mall was closed Sunday after a fire occurred in a dumpster/trash compactor just outside the business. At approximately 1:15 p.m., the Cleveland Fire Department responded to a fire reported at the Belk department store. According to CFD reports, firefighters found the fire in the dumpster outside the loading dock of the store. The flames were quickly extinguished.

Additional units were called to the scene and made entry to the stock room area of Belk, where they found heavy smoke. The sprinkler system had also been activated and water was flowing into the stock room, reports said. The fire in the dumpster was brought under control approximately 15 minutes after the first fire units arrived, and the sprinkler system was soon disabled.

Heavy-duty fans were brought in to remove any residual smoke from the business. Battalion Chief Robert Gaylor said in his report that there was substantial smoke and water damage in the stock room area, and some smoke damage in the store’s shopping area.

The store manager told the fire department that Belk would close for the remainder of the day and reopen on Monday. “The mall manager as well as security and the store manager were on the scene and were very helpful in assisting us with evacuating the mall and securing the area,” Gaylor’s report stated.

Due to the nature of the fire, the Arson Investigation Division was called to the scene and was attempting to determine the cause of the fire Sunday afternoon. It remains under investigation today.  No injuries were reported from the fire.