Oak Ridge Today

Fire destroys home on Frost Bottom Road early Sunday

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Frost Bottom Road Fire

A fire destroyed a home at 352 Frost Bottom Road in Anderson County early Sunday morning. (Photo by Tom Scott)

 

A fire destroyed a home on Frost Bottom Road early Sunday morning.

The fire was reported at 2 p.m. Sunday at 352 Frost Bottom Road in Anderson County, photographer Tom Scott said.

According to a neighbor, a passerby first saw the fire and asked the neighbor to call the Anderson County 911 Center, Scott said.

He said the Marlow Fire Department was dispatched and responded with one engine and two tankers. Mutual aid was requested from the Oliver Springs Fire Department, which sent two engines. [Read more…]

Deputy fire chief Waldo accepts job as fire chief in Bozeman, Mont.

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Josh Waldo at Graceland Fire April 2014

Oak Ridge Fire Department Deputy Chief Josh Waldo fights a fire at 120 Graceland on April 3, 2014. (Photo by Tom Scott)

 

Josh Waldo, deputy chief of the Oak Ridge Fire Department, has accepted a job as chief of the Bozeman Fire Department in Montana.

Waldo’s first day on the new job will be August 24. His last day in Oak Ridge hasn’t been determined, but it could be in mid-August.

Bozeman has about 40,000 people, which is a little larger than Oak Ridge, but its fire department is smaller. The Bozeman Fire Department has three fire stations and roughly 50 personnel, including chiefs and inspectors, Waldo said Tuesday. That compares to four fire stations and about 70 personnel in Oak Ridge.

Waldo, 34, has been deputy fire chief in Oak Ridge for about 16 months. He was promoted from assistant chief to deputy chief in March 2014. He was promoted to assistant chief about 2.5 years earlier, in November 2011. [Read more…]

Co-workers, firefighters react in minutes to save a life

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Linda Bridges and Michael Beehan

Linda Bridges has a hug for co-worker Michael Beehan, who started CPR when she experienced cardiac arrest. (Submitted photo)

 

Linda Bridges has returned to her desk at MS Technology Inc. after a four-month absence.

To Kurt Oschman, MSTI president and chief executive officer, that is a miracle resulting from the training and collaboration of her co-workers and the first responders from the Oak Ridge Fire Department who saved her life.

The story of Bridges’ miracle began Feb. 25, when she collapsed at her desk. Co-workers quickly called 911, and two co-workers began assessing her vital signs. At one point, she had stopped breathing and had no pulse.

“With excellent collaboration on decisions about appropriate first aid for Linda’s condition, Michael Beehan began administering CPR, with Karen Hamilton providing on-the-ground assistance,” Oschman wrote in the company’s recent newsletter. The two determined that Bridges needed cardiopulmonary resuscitation, and then Hamilton continued to check Bridges’ vital signs as Beehan provided CPR. [Read more…]

ORFD uses boat, cell phone signals to rescue mountain bikers lost at Haw Ridge

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Oak Ridge Fire Department and Haw Ridge Rescue

The Oak Ridge Fire Department used cell phone signals and a search crew in a boat to rescue three lost mountain bikers at Haw Ridge Park on Sunday night.

 

Note: This story was updated at 3:45 p.m. June 15.

The Oak Ridge Fire Department used cell phone signals and a search crew in a boat to rescue mountain bikers lost at Haw Ridge Park after dark on Sunday.

Dispatchers received a call that the three young men were lost at about 10 p.m. Sunday. Three firefighters launched a large rescue boat stored at East Tennessee Technology Park, the former K-25 site, by about 10:45 p.m. from a boat ramp at Solway Park, which is near Haw Ridge Park.

Oak Ridge Fire Chief Darryl Kerley said the three had stayed on the trails past sunset and became disoriented.

“Without flashlights, they were unable to find their way back to the parking lot, so they called 911 for assistance,” Kerley said. [Read more…]

No injuries, but four units damaged in apartment fire on West Outer

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West Outer Drive Apartment Fire

No one was injured, but four units were damaged in an early morning apartment fire on West Outer Drive on Friday, April 17. (Submitted photo)

 

No one was injured, but four units were damaged in an apartment fire on West Outer Drive early Friday morning.

The fire was reported at about 2:58 a.m. Friday, April 17. The occupant of the quad-plex apartment building at 337 West Outer Drive was sleeping at the time of the fire. He was awakened by the fire and attempted to extinguish it before exiting the apartment, Oak Ridge Fire Department Chief Darryl Kerley said.

He then woke up the other occupants in units 331 and 333, who then called 911. ORPD arrived on the scene three minutes after receiving the emergency call and reported fire coming from the rear of the structure and windows, Kerley said. [Read more…]

With help from neighbors, woman escapes home fire as attic burns

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Riverview Drive Garage Fire

An east Oak Ridge woman who uses a walker was able to escape this duplex fire on Riverview Drive on Tuesday afternoon, thanks to help from her neighbors. (Photo by Bob Nuspliger)

 

This story was last updated at 6:40 p.m.

An east Oak Ridge woman who uses a walker was able to escape from her home as her attic burned Tuesday afternoon thanks to help from her neighbors.

The woman, Barbara Osborne, was not injured, although two firefighters who were overheated were treated, Oak Ridge Fire Department Chief Darryl Kerley said. He said the firefighters, Captain Mike Friley and firefighter Casey Payne, were working close to the fire, near a lot of radiant heat.

Firefighters were also looking for a female cat, Honey, that belonged to the Osbornes.

The duplex they live in on Riverview Drive was destroyed, Kerley said.

The cause of the fire, which appeared to have started in the attic in the garage area of the home, wasn’t immediately known. It took between 16 and 18 firefighters about 45 minutes to extinguish the fire, which burned intensely over the garage on a windy Tuesday afternoon. [Read more…]

ORFD will recognize members for cardiac arrest save; honor firefighter, officer

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Steve London

Steve London

Eric Mocsari

Eric Mocsari

The Oak Ridge Fire Department will host a February ceremony that will recognize members for a cardiac arrest save in November and honor the firefighter and fire officer of the year.

The ceremony will be at 6 p.m. February 13 at Fire Station Number 3, which is at 333 Tuskegee Drive.

The Department will recognize Engine Company 2C for the cardiac arrest save, a press release said. This was the sixth cardiac arrest save within the last 12 months for the Oak Ridge Fire Department. [Read more…]

ORFD helps with Harriman trench rescue

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Harriman Trench Rescue

The Oak Ridge Fire Department, Knoxville Volunteer Rescue Squad, and UT Lifestar were among the agencies that responded to a Friday afternoon trench collapse in Harriman. At right front is Oak Ridge Fire Department Chief Darryl Kerley. At center with his back to the camera is a Knoxville Volunteer Rescue Squad physician, and a UT Lifestar crew member is in the trench.

 

MIDTOWN—Rescuers from the Oak Ridge Fire Department were among the dozens who responded to a trench collapse in Midtown that trapped a sewer line installer in dirt up to his mid-chest for about four hours Friday afternoon.

The worker was estimated to be about 20 years old, and he had been helping to install a new Roane County sewer line next to Moses Road south of Interstate 40 and west of Kingston when a trench estimated to be about eight to 10 feet deep collapsed at about noon Friday. The worker, who wasn’t immediately identified, is employed by Danson Construction of Sparta, Tennessee. He was rescued at about 4 p.m. Friday, taken to a helipad in Midtown, and then flown by medical helicopter to the University of Tennessee Medical Center, said Scott Stout, deputy director of the Roane County Office of Emergency Services and Homeland Security. [Read more…]

Rescuers pull woman from house fire after she tries to save pets

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Ridge Lane Home Fire

Two Anderson County deputies and a Marlow firefighter pulled a seriously injured woman out of this home, which was on fire on Ridge Lane on Wednesday afternoon. The woman had reportedly tried to rescue her pets from the fire. At right is Steve Newby, deputy chief of the Claxton Volunteer Fire Department, and at left is Marlow Volunteer Fire Department Captain Zach Pressnell, who helped pull the homeowner from the burning home.

 

Note: This story was last updated at 1:25 p.m. Nov. 20.

Two Anderson County deputies and a Marlow firefighter rescued a woman who was seriously injured trying to rescue her pets from a house fire on Wednesday afternoon, authorities said.

The woman, who has not been identified, was taken by ambulance to Methodist Medical Center of Oak Ridge and then flown by Lifestar helicopter to the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville, according to the Anderson County Sheriff’s Department. Her condition and age weren’t immediately available.

The woman was pulled out of the burning home at 131 Ridge Lane by Anderson County Sheriff’s Department Deputy Wiley Maloney, Reserve Deputy Gene Rose, and Marlow Volunteer Fire Department Captain Zach Pressnell. Pressnell said the woman was conscious but lay on the floor about five feet inside the single-story home, with fire rolling out of the front door and heavy smoke inside. [Read more…]

Four workers evaluated, released after electrical fire at Toxco

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Oak Ridge Fire Department Fire Engine at Toxco

The Oak Ridge Fire Department responded to a small, intense electrical fire on Thursday morning at Toxco, a company that processes low-level radioactive waste. The fire was in a one-story metal building at the back of the company’s site on Flint Road.

 

Four workers were evaluated for minor respiratory issues and released after a small, intense electrical fire was reported at a company that repackages low-level radioactive waste in central Oak Ridge on Thursday morning, authorities said.

The fire at Toxco Materials Management Center on Flint Road was reported at about 11:03 a.m. Thursday. It was in a large one-story metal building at the back of the site, said Marty Griffith, Oak Ridge Fire Department battalion chief.

Electrical equipment inside the building was on fire, and the only way to put it out was to disconnect power, which the Oak Ridge Electric Department did, Griffith said. He said the area where the fire occurred is used to repackage waste, and it is fed by 440 volts of electricity.

Once the power was disconnected, firefighters were able to put out the fire with fire extinguishers. [Read more…]

More than 8,000 cubic feet of natural gas leaked into former Kroger on Tuesday

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Kroger Gas Leak and ORFD and ORUD

Businesses around the former Kroger grocery store on South Illinois Avenue were evacuated on Tuesday afternoon after a gas leak was reported.

 

If it had exploded, the 8,500 cubic feet of natural gas that leaked into the former Kroger grocery store on South Illinois Avenue on Tuesday could have had a devastating impact on the shopping center and blown out windows in nearby businesses, possibly even across the street, a city official said Wednesday.

“Had it exploded, we would have been on national news,” Oak Ridge Fire Department Chief Darryl Kerley said. “It could have been devastating for all the businesses in that complex.”

Authorities suspect that the gas slowly flowed into the 30,000-square-foot grocery store starting Tuesday morning through an uncapped gas line that was once connected to an oven.

By the time emergency workers responded to a report of a gas leak on Tuesday afternoon, Kerley said, “the store was almost completely filled with a dangerous concentration of natural gas.” [Read more…]

No one injured in apartment kitchen fire

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Wakefield Road Apartment Fire

No one was injured in a kitchen fire on Monday evening at an apartment complex on Wakefield Road. The fire was reported at about 5:48 p.m. Monday in the apartment at 103D Wakefield Road, which is on the far right of the building pictured above.

 

No one was injured in a kitchen fire on Monday evening in an apartment on Wakefield Road.

The fire was reported at 5:48 p.m. Monday, Oak Ridge Assistant Fire Chief Josh Waldo said. No one was home at the time.

Waldo said firefighters are still trying to determine the cause, but the small fire might have started on the stove. It destroyed the stove and damaged a few cabinets, but was confined to the kitchen and caused minimal smoke damage, Waldo said. He estimated the total damage at about $2,500. [Read more…]