(Video at facebook.com/wizsradio)
For the second time in 13 years, fire has destroyed the warehouse space of ETC in Henderson, a local manufacturer of floor pads, cleaning pads, mops, brushes and more. (https://www.etcpads.com/about-us/)
As of this report at 2:15 p.m. Monday, no one has been injured. Henderson Fire Chief Steve Cordell said one member of fire personal was transported to Maria Parham Health, but fortunately the patient’s vital signs were good and his discharge was eminent.
Cordell said, “There has been no evacuation. We put a shelter in place, and we asked all residents in the area to if possible turn off their air conditioners. We spoke with the local Wal-Mart here, and they were able to say anybody that needed to come there for shelter, they could come there for shelter and help out with air conditioning. Right now we have different chemicals – they manufacture scrubbing pads, so we just have a lot of fiberglass products and some glue products. There is no haz-mat.”
He said the fiberglass particles in the air were not hazardous to health.
Cordell said, “We received a call to a structure fire approximately 10 o’clock this morning to ETC. Upon arrival, fire units found the back portion of the warehouse, heavy fire, flames showing through the roof at that time. At this point in time (1:22 p.m.), we have several neighboring departments here assisting us – Vance County Fire Department, Oxford Fire Department, Vance County Rescue Squad. We also have Drewry Volunteer Fire Department, and we have Cokesbury covering outskirt areas and Watkins Volunteer Fire Department covering outskirt areas of the city helping to respond to calls. We have all our personnel tied here. At this time, we have approximately 50 people on scene.
“It’s too early to tell (what started the fire.) We haven’t even started our investigation.
“Right now the crews are doing a great job. We are battling heat exhaustion. We have had four guys checked out by EMS at this time.”
Cordell said the wind was actually helpful in that it kept the fire pushed back towards the warehouse space and away from the office space of the structure.
WIZS News spoke to additional people on the scene and learned more.
Henderson Mayor Eddie Ellington said, “I believe they’ve lost about everything but the office. They said now they’re just trying to keep it contained. When they first started, they were going to try to save one structure, but with the wind, they just weren’t able to do it.”
Ellington said he had spoken with the owner of ETC, a member of the Demetriades family. Ellington said, “I talked with Mr. (Gus) Demetriades up there, and he was just…I believe it started out in the warehouse, and somebody tried with a fire extinguisher to put it out and then they just…you know it got away from them, so.”
You could sense the exacerbation.
Henderson City Manager Frank Frazier said, “All I know is our guys, with the help of a lot of other (fire) departments, are working just as hard as they can to get the fire out. Other than that, we’re still assessing everything on that part as far as the city is concerned. I talked with Brian Short, our EMS director, and they were basically telling (residents) to hold in place, cut their air conditioners off to make sure as far as any of the air, but if they needed to leave to get out away from the area, they could do that as well.”
Frazier said he was on the scene “doing anything he could to help with the guys.”
Longtime local fireman Randy Newman said, “The guys are doing an excellent job of containing it.” At the time we spoke with him, he talked about the guys were moving some of the fireman and equipment “away from the backside” due to the possibility of a propane problem.
When the warehouse space was destroyed 13 years ago, as an employee on the scene today reminded us, the Demetriades family stood by its people, keeping them employed for the six months it took to rebuild.
WIZS Radio at 1450 AM and online at wizs.com was able to record substantial facebook.com/wizsradio video, and you should review that now for more information.