Batesville Casket manufacturing plant in Manchester.
Manchester firefighters responded around 5pm Thursday afternoon to a reported paint room fire at Batesville Casket Company on Monogard Dr. Fire units arrived on scene within 4 minutes and reported heavy smoke and fire coming from the exhaust stacks on the main building.
Immediately mutual aid requests were placed through the Coffee County Communications Center for Tullahoma Fire Rescue, AEDC Fire & Emergency Services and Hillsboro Volunteer fire department to respond for mutual aid assistance.
As firefighters entered the facility they found a large fire in the paint booth areas. Due to the confined nature of the paint booth areas and hazards associated with operating around those areas crews methodically began fire operations. As more personnel arrived on scene this greatly assisted in firefighting efforts. When crews came out and went to rehabilitation (manned by Coffee County Rescue Squad and Coffee County EMS personnel) they were able to be swapped out rather quickly once briefed on progression on firefighting efforts, fresh crews were able to re-enter the bldg. to continue operations. Fire operations continued for a good while as the location of the fire inside the various paint booths were very difficult to reach and suppress the fire.
Firefighters teamed up from Tullahoma Fire and Manchester Fire and began removing vents, screens etc to get to the fires in the paint booths.
Heavy smoke filled the ski during the Thursday afternoon fire at Batesville Casket manufacturing plant in Manchester.
As crews were working inside the facility, personnel from Manchester Police Department and Coffee County Emergency Management agency were outside assisting fire crews with foam operations, refilling of breathing air bottles and determining any hazardous materials issues surrounding firefighting operations. Coffee County EMS personnel were conducting vital rehab operations for all firefighters coming out ensuring they were safe to re-enter the facility when needed.
Fire operations were completed around 11pm Thursday night when crews laddered the roof of the facility and suppressed any remaining fires within the exhaust stacks on the roof of the facility.
Manchester Fire Chief George Chambers said that without the assistance from all city departments along with mutual aid partners, Tullahoma Fire Rescue, AEDC Fire & Emergency Services, New Union Volunteer fire dept firefighting operations would not have been as successful as they were Thursday night. He added, “This was an outstanding effort from a team of firefighters and other emergency responders from our communities coming together as one team to accomplish the task at hand.
Batesville Corporation said in a written statement that the plant followed emergency protocols, and they are thankful to report that there were no injuries. Batesville is grateful to the outstanding efforts of the Manchester, Tullahoma, and Arnold Air Force Base firefighters, police, and other emergency personnel.
The fire was limited to one area of the facility. The warehouse that housed product was not impacted. Product continued to be shipped from the facility Friday.
