Fire ravages recycling plant

Published 9:24 pm Saturday, January 6, 2007

Residents say Chattanooga Avenue is usually pretty quiet. But around 2 a.m. Saturday, sirens shattered that silence.

“A bunch of us went outside, and we saw the flames shooting up out of the building,” said Corey Dempsey.

The “building” was a three-story section of the Columbia Recycling Corp. facility at 1001 Chattanooga Ave., which recycles materials from the carpet industry. The site is part of the former home of Crown Cotton Mills..

Two company workers were injured and one was unaccounted for as of noon Saturday. Dalton Fire Chief Barry Gober said he could not provide their names or the nature of the injuries.

“One was treated and released at Hamilton (Medical Center). One was taken to Erlanger,” Gober said.

Gober said the first units to arrive on the scene “encountered heavy smoke and flames visible from several different levels of the building.”

“It was fascinating how quickly the flames spread,” said Amanda Hampton Welch, one of the neighbors awakened by the sirens.

Gober says the fire department ultimately sent four pumpers and two ladder trucks. Those units were supported by additional trucks from the Whitfield County Fire Department.

“It took about 30 minutes to lay all the supply line to supply enough water to the two aerials and the pumpers,” Gober said. “We called the county fire department to supplement that ability. They were instrumental in helping us get the (water) pressure and volume we needed. We were putting about 4,500 gallons a minute into the building once all that was established.”

Gober said that firefighters were able keep the fire from spreading to structures in the Columbia facility that adjoined the building where the fire started.

“The construction barriers (between the buildings) allowed us to cut it off at both ends. Much of the operation survived on either side,” he said.

But Gober said the building where the fire started is a “total loss.” Officials said that section of the facility may date back to the 1920s.

Several Columbia employees, who were not at work at the time of the fire, came to the site Saturday morning after hearing about the blaze.

“If it had been a weekday morning shift, it could have been a lot worse,” said Columbia employee Teresa Leffew.

Officials could not immediately say how many employees were on duty at the time of the blaze.

Neighbors said many of the workers remained outside the scene watching as firefighters fought the blaze.

“It was very sad to watch,” said Hampton Welch.

No firefighters or emergency response personnel were injured.

Gober said the cause of the fire is still under investigation. He said he also could not say why the fire seemed to spread so quickly. The plant, he said, would probably not be released back to the company until today. But he said firefighters will likely still be going through the building for several more days.

Gober said no hazardous materials were involved. But the department did alert the state Environmental Protection Division, which sent an official to monitor air and water quality. Gober said there had been no problems with either air or water quality, but at the EPD’s direction, they had erected silt fences to contain the water running off from the site.

Neighbors said they had never noticed any problems at the plant before. Gober said the fire department has been called to the facility in the past.

“Obviously, we have not seen anything of this scale in my 28 years in the fire service. It’s usually contained in the the area of machinery or equipment that’s involved,” he said.

Robert Goldberg, owner and president of the plant, praised the work done by the fire department.

“they saved a lot of my building,” he said.

Goldberg said the company would be back in operation on Monday.