Two people have minor injuries after two fires this month

 

Two people were injured in fires in Oak Ridge this month, although the injuries were reported to be minor.

The first fire was reported at 515 Utica Circle in central Oak Ridge at about 3:33 p.m. Friday, March 3. One adult was taken by an ambulance to Methodist Medical Center of Oak Ridge, said Sergeant Jeremy Huddleston of the Oak Ridge Police Department. The fire was extinguished by the Oak Ridge Fire Department.

ORFD Battalion Chief Eric Rackard said a stove eye that had been left on in the second-floor apartment started a fire in grease in a pan. The resident tried to bring the pan outside to throw it outside, but the grease was burning too much for the resident to be able to handle the pan properly, Rackard said.

The fire burned the resident’s arm, Rackard said. The injuries were described as minor. The fire was deemed to be accidental.

The second fire was reported at Tennessee Tool and Engineering (TTE Casting Technologies Inc.) in Bethel Valley Industrial Park in south Oak Ridge at about 3:40 p.m. Thursday. That fire started in a storage room, Oak Ridge Fire Chief Darryl Kerley said.

Employees tried to put it out with fire extinguishers, but insulation in a garage door melted and dripped on the arm of an employee who was then taken to the hospital. The man was treated and released with second-degree burns on his arm, Kerley said.

The cause hadn’t been determined as of Saturday afternoon, Kerley said. The fire started on a shelf where filters and boxes are stored. The fire in the storage room set insulation on fire in the wall of the main building. Firefighters reported having it extinguished in about 20 minutes.

There was an electrical inspection and the power was turned back on, and TTE employees went back to work that night, Kerley said. The company was back in service at about 6:30 to 7 p.m., the fire chief said.

More information will be added as it becomes available.

 

 

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