UNION CITY, Tn. - More than 30 hours after receiving the initial call for help, Union City firefighters continue to hose down hotspots at Greenway's charred 55,000 square foot recycling facility.
"Soon it was obvious the fire wasn't out and 11'o'clock turned into 8 o'clock and 8 o'clock turned into 11:15 next day," said Fire Chief Kelly Edmison.
The real problem started early on. Greenway employees say they held off calling 911 for about 20 minutes because they thought they had the fire under control. Then Jack Jernigan saw smoke billowing from this back corner.
"We didn't know at the time that the fire had gotten underneath the material and it was spreading underneath it," President of Operations Jack Jernigan said.
City inspector Jim Temple confirms he warned the company about all these large cardboard blocks sitting outside the building creating a safety and fire hazard. In fact, public works employees had to move them while firefighters battled the flames.
"They were a big hand today with some equipment to move stuff around - kinda cut these blocks up," Edmison said.
The fire created a large ploom of smoke over much of the city and he wants the people who live there to know it shouldn't have gotten this bad.
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