Oak Ridge Fire Chief Darryl Kerley is leaving the Oak Ridge Fire Department on Friday, August 21, and he will become a full-time fire service instructor and coordinator for the State of Tennessee, a press release said.
Kerley has 43 years of active fire service with four different fire departments, the press release said. He was fire chief of three of those departments for 22 years.
Besides serving his last day as fire chief in Oak Ridge on Friday, August 21, Kerley will mark another milestone that day: It will be the last day of his six-year appointment to the Tennessee Commission on Firefighter Standards and Education.
“Serving as fire chief for the important and historical City of Oak Ridge and being appointed to the Fire Commission by Governor Bill Haslam have been the highlights of my professional career,” Kerley said in the press release. “It truly has been an honor and privilege to serve as fire chief of such a great city and to be part of the development of the national park at the K-25 site and the K-25 History Center. This is one of the finest fire departments I’ve ever been associated with and has some of the best-trained people in the State of Tennessee.”
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No one was injured, but a home was destroyed by a fire in Oak Ridge last week.
The fire was reported in the 100 block of East Pasadena Road early Monday, July 27, the Oak Ridge Fire Department said.
Firefighters responded to a report of a structure fire at the home around 3:16 a.m. last Monday. When they arrived, fire crews found that 25 percent of home was on fire, with flames coming through the roof in the back corner.
Three engines, a tower truck, rescue truck, and battalion chief fought the fire for approximately 20 minutes before gaining control, the ORFD said. The Oak Ridge Electric Department responded to disconnect the power at the pole, and the Oak Ridge Police Department provided security.
[Read more…]Seven apartment residents were displaced after a kitchen fire on Wakefield Road on Friday, but no injuries were reported.
The fire was reported at about 8 p.m. Friday.
When crews arrived, the Oak Ridge Fire Department found a kitchen fire in one of six apartments. The fire was quickly extinguished, but there was heavy fire damage to that apartment, the ORFD said.
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Note: This story was updated at 8:35 a.m. Feb. 24.
No injuries were reported in a fire that destroyed a home on Outer Drive near Ogden Lane early Friday.
The cause of the fire, reported at about 2:19 a.m. Friday, is under investigation.
“The first arriving unit was on scene within minutes and found heavy smoke and fire coming from the residence,” the City of Oak Ridge said. “The resident was not home at the time of the fire.”
Outer Drive was closed at Ogden Lane on Friday morning as the Oak Ridge Fire Department watched for hot spots and continued to spray water on the charred home, which appeared to have a second story that had collapsed. The road re-opened shortly after 3 p.m. Friday.
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An Oak Ridge firefighter was injured in a fire in a vacant house on Artesia Drive early Friday, February 14.
The fire was reported at about 3:20 a.m. February 14.
When the Oak Ridge Fire Department arrived, firefighters found heavy smoke and fire coming from the windows and eaves of the home, a press release said.
“The fire crew entered through the front door and quickly extinguished the fire in the kitchen area,” the press release said.
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One person was flown to a hospital after a two-vehicle crash in west Oak Ridge on Monday morning, emergency responders said.
The crash was reported at about 6:15 a.m. Monday on Oak Ridge Turnpike near Salem Road. The Oak Ridge police and fire departments responded.
When they arrived, Oak Ridge Fire Department firefighters found a heavily damaged vehicle with the injured driver still inside. They quickly extinguished a small fire in the engine compartment of the vehicle and rescued the driver, emergency responders said. The injured driver was then flown by a Lifestar medical helicopter to the University of Tennessee Medical Center in Knoxville. The driver of the second vehicle reported no injuries.
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The Oak Ridge fire and police departments, in partnership with the Oak Ridge Neighborhood Watch Program, will hold this year’s Fire and Crime Prevention Celebration on Saturday.
Everyone is invited to participate and support this free event, which combines the police department’s annual National Night Out and the fire department’s Fire Prevention Parade into one big community celebration, a press release said.
The event will kick off with a parade (weather permitting) at 11 a.m. at Oak Ridge Fire Department Fire Station 3 on Tuskegee Drive. Following the parade, the celebration in Alvin K. Bissell Park is expected to begin around noon, and it will include food, emergency services equipment displays, a mobile video game theater, bounce houses, safety information booths, and police/fire demonstrations, the press release said.
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The Oak Ridge Fire and Police Departments, in partnership with the Oak Ridge Neighborhood Watch Program, will hold this year’s Fire and Crime Prevention Celebration on Saturday, October 26.
“Everyone is invited to participate and support this free event, which combines the police department’s annual National Night Out and the Fire Department’s Fire Prevention Parade into one big community celebration,” a press release said.
Goals of the Fire and Crime Prevention Celebration include:
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An automatic stovetop device stopped a kitchen fire from spreading in an Oak Ridge apartment Thursday morning, firefighters said.
The fire was reported at about 10:52 a.m. Thursday in an apartment on Teller Village Lane. The first Oak Ridge Fire Department unit arrived within minutes and found smoke inside the apartment, a press release said.
No injuries were reported in the fire. The vent hood system, cabinets, and stovetop in the kitchen were damaged, but the fire was not able to spread because of the automatic stovetop fire suppressor device, the press release said.
[Read more…]Note: This story was updated at 4:30 p.m.
Power has been restored to most, if not all, customers after being out across nearly all of Oak Ridge on Sunday afternoon, the Oak Ridge Police Department said.
If you are still without power, you can call (865) 425-1803.
The cause of the power outages weren’t immediately clear, but there were thunderstorms over Oak Ridge on Sunday afternoon. The storms brought heavy rain and lightning and thunder.
It wasn’t immediately clear how long the power was out for different customers and where.
It would be the second major outage in Oak Ridge since mid-June, the weekend of the Secret City Festival, when the city had several electrical power outages. The most widespread outage that weekend occurred Saturday afternoon, when approximately 11,455 homes and businesses were affected across the city. The outage area included nearly everything north of the Oak Ridge Turnpike and west of Rutgers Avenue. Other areas in the central-south part of the city were also affected. Power was out for about two hour and 20 minutes.
[Read more…]The Oak Ridge Fire Department is warning residents about a potentially fraudulent safety campaign. Firefighters were made aware this week that an unknown person claiming to be with the fire department is going to door to door, attempting to speak with homeowners about carbon monoxide detectors, a press release said.
The Oak Ridge Fire Department is not currently operating any door-to-door safety campaigns in our area, the press release said. ORFD personnel will also never try to sell items to residents.
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