posted March 29, 2007
Fire on Thursday night forced the evacuation of employees at Nu-Foam Products, located at 1101 Wisdom St. Then there was another fire at the facility late Thursday night and still another one on Friday morning.
Chattanooga firefighters responded yet again to Nu-Foam at 1101 Wisdom Street on a fire just after 9 a.m.
Fire Investigators Lesley Morgan and Henry McElvain were performing a follow-up investigation from last night's fires when they found some smoldering product. They immediately called for a full response due to the difficulty in extinguishing the fire and because of the nature of the foam product.
While the fire Friday morning appears to be related to the two fires last night, the department is continuing to investigate all of the fires. Crews were on scene last night into the early hours of the morning to render the scene safe. The department exhausted every effort to extinguish these fires, including the use of thermal imaging cameras to assist in finding hotspots, officials said.
In the area of the facility in which the fire was located, used foam is recycled. The foam is busted into very small particles, making it even more combustible. Due to this property of the foam and the hidden spaces in this area of the plant, it has been extremely difficult to find the smoldering product in areas of heavy build-up, it was stated.
The Fire Prevention Bureau was called to the scene to speak with facility representatives on how to control these build up issues.
This fire appears to be accidental in nature, but is still under investigation at this time, fire officials said. The facility was evacuated again, but there were no injuries reported during this incident.
The Chattanooga Fire Department received the initial alarm at 6:46 p.m. Thursday and responded with six fire companies. Firefighters at Station 10 are located just up the street from Nu-Foam and were the first to arrive on the scene.
Upon seeing the volume of smoke coming from the plant, Captain William Dautrich called for a second alarm response to bring in six additional fire companies.
Fortunately, the second alarm companies were not needed. Battalion Chief Mack Moore said the first firefighters on the scene located the fire around some machinery inside the plant, and got the fire under control in roughly 15 minutes. Chief Moore said the sprinkler system also activated, which helped contain the flames to one area.
One worker reportedly received minor injuries when he jumped off the machine that caught on fire. Paramedics with Hamilton County EMS transported the worker to Memorial Northpark Hospital for observation. He did not have any fire-related injuries.
Fire investigators are working to confirm the cause of the fire, which at this time, appears to be accidental in nature. Nu-Foam General Manager Chad Reinsel said it would take some time to assess the damage, and what impact it might have on production at the plant. Nu-Foam makes foam products for the mattress and furniture industries. Mr. Reinsel said Nu-Foam has 100 employees.
This is not the first time Chattanooga firefighters have been to Nu-Foam. On October 30, 2006, Chattanooga firefighters responded to a 2-alarm fire there that had flames shooting through the roof. No injuries were reported, but the dollar loss was estimated in excess of $1 million.
Chattanooga firefighters responded to another fire at Nu-Foam Products later Thursday night. They received the alarm at 11:18 p.m. and responded with six fire companies. This time most of the fire was in a section of the building called the penthouse. A second alarm was again requested as a precaution, but those fire companies were later sent back to their stations. The firefighters got the fire out in roughly 30 minutes, with no injuries reported.
At this point, it is not known if there is a connection with this fire and the one that occured earlier Thursday evening. Battalion Chief Mack Moore said the firefighters used thermal imaging cameras on the earlier fire to make sure there were no hidden hot spots. Fire investigators have been called to the scene, and the cause of the fire is under investigation.
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