VIDEOS/PHOTO: Cocke Countyโs highway department building caught fire Tuesday, according to Mayor Rob Mathis. He said the building contained explosive materials like propane tanks and later added that the fire had been brought under control.
The building is located at 820 Lower Quarry Road in Newport. โPlease continue to avoid this area as smoke is still thick and emergency responders will remain on scene for several more hours,โ Mathis said in a Facebook post. WVLT spoke to Mayor Mathis, who gave a few details about the fire. He said he got a call about the fire from the Cocke County Emergency Management Agency around 11:30 a.m.
Cocke County Highway Superintendent Dwayne McCallister said the building had been badly damaged in Heleneโs flooding, meaning no one was working in it when the fire broke out. McCallister also said the fire wonโt affect the highway departmentโs day-to-day operations, adding that the only equipment lost was one truckโs mirror, which melted off, several tired and the building itself. The mayor added that the county had evacuated the nearby Keurig Dr. Pepper plant as a precaution. WVLT News reached out to Keurig Dr. Pepper for a statement, which a representative provided over email.
Cocke County Fire Chief Cody Keyes says there were dangerous material inside the building during the fire. โThere were some propane tanks. It was a maintenance garage for equipment,โ he said. โSo motor oil, diesel fuel, gasoline, tires, oxyacetylene, stuff like that and due to that being in there, we evacuated the Dr Pepper Keurig plant.โ โWe are incredibly thankful to the County Fire Department, Newport City Fire Department, and all of our volunteer fire departments, county sheriff, city police and other responders who rushed to the scene,โ Mathis said.
