Oak Ridge Today

No one injured as ammunition explodes in SUV fire

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SUV With Ammunition in Car Crash

No one was injured after an SUV with several hundred rounds of ammunition was hit by a pickup truck on Melton Lake Drive on Saturday, overturned, and caught fire. (Photos courtesy Oak Ridge Fire Department)

No one was injured, but several hundred rounds of ammunition started exploding after a sport utility vehicle returning from a Wounded Warriors shooting event was hit by a pickup truck on Melton Lake Drive, overturned, and caught fire, authorities said.

The accident happened at about 5:05 p.m. Saturday, the Oak Ridge Fire Department said.

A southbound Toyota pickup truck crossed the center line and hit the SUV, which was driven by Jeff Douglas. The SUV hit the guardrail, spun, and overturned, the ORFD said. [Read more…]

Three residents escape, two cats die in Geneva Lane fire

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Geneva Lane House Fire

Three residents escaped but two cats died in a Monday morning fire in a den and kitchen at a home on Geneva Lane. (Photos by Tom Scott)

Three residents escaped but two cats died in a Monday morning fire in a den and kitchen at a home on West Geneva Lane.

The fire was reported at about 6:36 a.m. at 110 W. Geneva Lane.

The homeowner, Debora Boody, said her mother smelled smoke when she got up to shower in the morning. After she was awakened, Debora Boody went to the den and said it looked black inside, so she opened the den doors and smoke immediately filled the kitchen, an Oak Ridge Fire Department report said. [Read more…]

Small bedroom fire extinguished on Hamilton Circle

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A small fire around an electrical outlet in a bedroom on a multifamily home on Hamilton Circle was extinguished before firefighters arrived Tuesday afternoon, authorities said.

Firefighters found light smoke and evidence of burning when they arrived at 102 Hamilton Circle at about 3 p.m. Tuesday, but they said the fire had not spread. [Read more…]

Milky white water, half-dozen dead minnows, but no hazardous materials found

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Hazmat Spill Oak Ridge Civic Center Creek

The Oak Ridge Fire Department responds to a possible hazardous materials spill on Thursday evening at a creek that flows through the Oak Ridge Civic Center. (Photo courtesy ORFD)

The water was milky white and there were a half-dozen dead minnows on Thursday evening, but the Oak Ridge Fire Department was unable to find any hazardous materials in a small creek that flows through Alvin K. Bissell Park in the center of the city.

“We couldn’t detect what it actually was, and we couldn’t find any place that it was introduced into the stream,” ORFD Chief Darryl Kerley said Friday.

Kerley said medium and larger fish in the area were okay and so was a snapping turtle. [Read more…]

Secret City Festival videos available on Fire Department’s YouTube page

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Secret City Festival Children's Area

This year’s Secret City Festival included expanded areas for children and the Oak Ridge Fire Department, among other changes.

You can now revisit all the fun and excitement of the 2013 Secret City Festival by visiting the Oak Ridge Fire Department’s You Tube page, a press release said.

During the recent festival in June, several hours of footage were collected of the Fire Department zip line and water play areas, and they have now been formatted into short video clips. You can view these clips at www.youtube.com/oakridgefd.

The videos were shot and produced by ORFD Capt. Jason Benjamin, who is also an accomplished actor, producer, and award-winning screen writer, the press release said. [Read more…]

Four Oak Ridge fire officers receive national accreditation

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Darryl Kerley

Darryl Kerley

Josh Waldo

Josh Waldo

The Center for Public Safety Excellence has notified four officers of the Oak Ridge Fire Department that they have received national accreditation, a press release said.

ORFD Fire Chief Darryl Kerley and Assistant Fire Chief Josh Waldo have been notified that they have been approved for the designation of chief fire officer, the release said. Battalion chiefs Marty Griffith and Joseph Durham have been approved for the designation of fire officer. [Read more…]

ORUD ‘near miss’: Light fails, fixture overheats, insulation paper ignites

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Oak Ridge Utility District Fire

Oak Ridge firefighters investigate a report of smoke at Oak Ridge Utility District on Thursday morning. They found a hot ceiling tile and determined a light ballast had apparently failed, causing a fixture to overheat and igniting insulation paper. (Submitted photos)

The Oak Ridge Fire Department called it a “near miss.”

Firefighters responded at about 6:40 a.m. Thursday to a report of smoke at the Oak Ridge Utility District office building on South Jefferson Circle. The source of the smoke was initially believed to be a motor on a heat and air unit that had failed, but fire crews using a thermal imaging camera located a hot ceiling tile in an office, an ORFD press release said.

“It appears that a light ballast had failed, causing the fixture to overheat, which ignited the paper backing on the insulation lying directly on top of the recessed light,” the release said. “The paper burned along the insulation for approximately five feet until the insulation came into contact with a sprinkler pipe, where it self-extinguished. There was no damage, smoke or water, to the building, and the burned insulation was removed by the firefighters.” [Read more…]

ORFD responds to possible lightning strike call

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During a severe thunderstorm on Monday evening, the Oak Ridge Fire Department responded to a call of a woman who had possibly been struck by lightning.

The woman reported she was standing by a window at a Vanderbilt Drive home at about 7:19 p.m. Monday when she saw a bright flash of light and then had a funny feeling in her chest, ORFD Chief Darryl Kerley said Tuesday. [Read more…]

UT Medical Center can’t comment on condition of child hit by car in Oak Ridge

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The University of Tennessee Medical Center could not provide information on the condition of an eight-year-old boy hit by a car on Wednesday afternoon in Oak Ridge—or even confirm whether the child was at the hospital.

An Oak Ridge Police Department report said the boy was hit by a 1998 Toyota Camry in the parking lot of British Woods Apartments at about 4:35 p.m. Wednesday. The four-door sedan was driven by Zhenfeng Han, 33, who lives at the apartment complex on Briarcliff Avenue. [Read more…]

Boy hit by car at apartment complex, ORFD says

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A 10-year-old boy was reportedly hit by a car and flipped onto the hood before falling onto the ground next to a tire at British Woods Apartments on Wednesday afternoon, authorities said.

The boy was lying face up in the apartment complex driveway when the Oak Ridge Fire Department arrived at about 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, a report said. He had abrasions on his neck but no other obvious injuries.

The boy could not remember what happened, the ORFD report said. He was taken by ambulance to the University of Tennessee Medical Center.

ORFD: After Y-12 refuses wet nitric acid package, FedEx driver finds leak

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FedEx Nitric Acid Spill

Workers from a commercial cleanup company place a leaking nitric acid package in a secure container along Administration Road on Tuesday afternoon. (Photo by Tom Scott)

The cardboard container contained one liter of nitric acid, and the delivery had been refused at the Y-12 National Security Complex because the bottom of the package was wet, the FedEx driver told Oak Ridge firefighters.

The delivery driver checked the 11-pound package at his next stop, and he found fluid leaking out of it and immediately called 911, Oak Ridge Fire Chief Darryl Kerley said in a Tuesday afternoon statement. [Read more…]

Fire Department, state Fire Academy hosting fire officer class

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The Oak Ridge Fire Department has been hosting the Tennessee Fire Academy for a Fire Officer I and II class, a press release said.

ORFD has been hosting the class with the Tennessee Fire Service and Code Academy. It started the first week of January and will end the last week of March.

[Read more…]