MEMPHIS, Tenn– On one of the coldest mornings of the year, this is what more than 80 Memphis firefighters were up against. They battled a huge warehouse fire in North Memphis in what were far from ideal weather conditions.
Lt. Wayne Cooke is the spokesman for the Memphis Fire Department.
“It’s extremely challenging, especially in freezing weather. That water freezes up and it could cause a trip and fall hazard. So their safety is always a concern. This type of temperature will decrease their time of actual firefighting and we rotate them in and out of the structure,” Cooke said.
A WREG drone video gives you a bird’s eye view of a massive warehouse fire at 400 Mahanna Avenue.
“When we arrived, large volumes of smoke coming from the structure. We entered the structure and began an interior attack on this fire.”
The building belongs to a company called KTG USA. It’s a manufacturing company that specializes in paper products.
As you might imagine, those paper products also posed an additional challenge for firefighters.
“Several bails of tissue, bathroom tissue and paper towels were on fire. We were able to bring this fire under control in about an hour and thirty-three minutes.”
The two alarm fire was contained to mainly one building. Fire investigators say the company’s sprinkler system was activated and helped contain the fire.
But even more important, the company’s 150 employees who were here at the time were all evacuated and no firefighters were hurt doing their job on a bitterly cold Wednesday morning.
“That’s another reason for the large number of firefighters on the scene. Everybody has a job and everyone completes their responsibility. ”
The cause of the fire is still under investigation.