Middlesboro Fire Chief Robert England shared details from the fire that destroyed the Cardwell Furniture building during his report to the city council last week. While the building was a total loss and had to be torn down, England praised the efforts of his fire fighters and the help from neighboring agencies for containing the fire to the original building and keeping it from causing more widespread damage.

He said he would like to start a campaign to get local businesses, especially in the historic downtown district with so many older buildings, to install an early detection system with monitored fire alarms. England said that having such a system in place would have allowed firefighters to respond as much as two hours sooner and likely would have saved the building.

“We responded in the daytime by about 4:15. That fire probably started, from what we’re gathering, at around 1 or 1:30. If we catch that call at 2 o’clock, it’s probably a little different outcome down there,” England said. “We really need to look at that. I don’t know if  we can force it or if we want to force it, but we should surely heavily suggest it.”

He said having the system in place would help businesses save on their insurance premiums so the overall cost would be minimal.

“Central early detection not only helps protect their property, it helps get us there early before things get real dangerous so it does save firefighters’ lives too,” England added.

The chief also had several people he wanted to thank for helping during the fire.

“What a job our dispatchers did. They were the first ones I reached out to to get off-duty personnel in and Mutual Aid on the way and we didn’t have to put a second request out for it. Whoever was on duty — I think it was Butch but I’m not sure — they did a fabulous job. They don’t get a lot of notice, they sit in that cubicle and not everybody sees them, but they are the lifeline for our first responders out in the field. Anytime you see one of them out give them a big thanks for that,” he said

England said the B Shift was working that day and all off-duty personnel except three showed up on the scene.

“We wound up with 20 of our firefighters on scene and Mutual Aid got there within a half an hour and started coming in pretty heavy. We wound up with 22 extra apparatuses, three aerials and 45 additional men for manpower,” he said. “It made a difference, so having a good relationship with your neighboring departments, helping them when they ask for help gets them to show up when you ask for help. That made a difference downtown and in keeping that fire contained to the original building and that’s thanks to everybody who showed up.”

England thanked the Street Department for putting salt down and setting traffic barriers as well as the Police Department and their patrolmen for maintaining the crowd and directing traffic away from the scene.

“If the Street Department hadn’t showed up we would have had an ice rink to work off of,” he said. “The Police Department was the first on scene with us. They helped get people out of the buildings around us. They all stayed out there with us until we were done.”

He thanked Kentucky Utilities for shutting off power to the building to make it safe for firefighters to work and Colby Wilson and the Water Company for keeping an adequate supply of water.

“They came out and stayed with us, they made sure they had plant operators come in early so we could continue suppressing the fire and they could keep the other residents with water,” England said. “We sprayed over 5 million gallons. The city as a whole typically uses 1.1 or 1.2 million gallons a day so we used up a whole week’s worth really quick on them and we appreciate them keeping it going for us.”

He thanked the Pineville Fire Department and Chief James Miracle for bringing their ladder truck and seven personnel;. the Bell County Volunteer Fire Department and Chief Tim Howard for bringing five apparatuses and five personnel;. the Harrogate, Tenn., Volunteer Fire Department and Captain Donnie Miracle for bringing one ladder truck, six personnel and one pumper; the Thomas Walker Volunteer Fire Department and Chief John Cheek for bringing three apparatuses and seven personnel; the Tazewell/New Tazewell Fire Department and Chief Terry Blackhurst for providing one aerial with four personnel and the Cumberland Gap Tunnel Authority for bringing one apparatus and two personnel.

“I also want to thank Lifeline Ambulance Service. While we were fighting this fire up into the next day, they came in and made all of our transports for us so we wouldn’t have to pull any fire personnel off,” England said. “Bell County Ambulance Service came and stood on stand by to answer any emergency calls during the fire suppression. I can say that I don’t know of one single call during that period that went unanswered. It’s all thanks to the relationships we’ve been working on for the last several years with these other local departments. If you ever see one of our fire trucks over in Harrogate or over in Straight Creek, this is why we go over there. If they call and ask and we can, we’re definitely going to return the favor.”

He also thanked all the local businesses who brought food, coffee and drinks for the firefighters on the scene.

New City Council member Kevin Barnett added that he saw regular citizens pitching in to help during the fire.

“I saw Sue Yoakum come carrying a 24-pack of water down the sidewalk and that impressed me more than anything. Then Vets Serving Vets rolled out a big cooler of Power Aid. That really impressed me,” he said.

“Absolutely. It’s heartwarming to see that, especially when it’s for you and your guys,” England

said. “We were not without anything that we needed that night and we certainly appreciate it.”

England also thanked Mayor Bowling for coming out to the scene of the fire to help in any way he could.

“One other thing, if you’re looking to buy a piece of furniture or you need a piece of furniture, please go see Mr. Cardwell,” England said. “He’s been a staple in this community for years. At least give him the consideration to see if he has something that fits your need in a price range you can afford. I think we ought to do that anytime for him or any local business.”

Councilman Terry Poore thanked England and the entire Middlesboro Fire Department for their efforts during the fire. He also asked about the status of the city’s ladder truck, which has been down for several months.

England said he made a trip to check on it a couple of weeks ago. A cable broke on the ladder and it was drawn back through which caused the lower fly section to bend. He said getting the repairs done had been really tough.

“The welder that’s working on it had to do some welds and then load it up and send it in to LTI to get approval from them that yes he could do this type of weld,” England said. “The truck being a 2001, some of the parts are having to be remade for it. I’m expecting to have it back by the middle of February, but they’re just now getting all of the parts in for it.”

He said the truck cost $110,000 when the city bought it from Long Island and he thought the repairs would be less than $50,000.

“If there’s a pump that has to be replaced, insurance is already standing by to cover it. There’s one cylinder that’s valued at $20,000, we’re hoping it’s not bent so it can be rebuilt and put back on. If that’s the case we should be pretty good,” England said.

The chief added that not having the truck available didn’t impact the department’s response to last week’s fire.

“I’m not going to tell you that we  wouldn’t have loved to have had it on scene, but there’s a certain time when you can engage that and put it in. By the Mutual Aid coming in, it didn’t put us too far behind that time frame,” England said. “I’m glad we didn’t have anybody to rescue out of a window or something, that would have made a big difference there. But by all means we are trying to get it back and get it in service.”

During their comments at the end of the meeting, all of the council members thanked the MFD and the surrounding departments for their efforts in containing the fire to just one building.

Mayor Boone Bowling said it was the biggest fire he’d ever seen.

“What we witnessed last Tuesday, even with it being such a loss, was an absolutely miraculous win. From stories I’ve heard from a lot of the old timers, fires like that don’t stop at one building,” he said. “That’s a testament to what everybody did, coming together. Our police and fire departments are first and foremost, but our street department and our citizens coming together and being willing to come around and support them. It says a lot about our area and in a world with so much bad it’s refreshing to see so much good come out of that big of a tragedy.”

“It’s heartwarming to see everybody coming together. It makes you appreciate where you live and who you live with,” Councilman Tommy Joe Mike said.

Councilman Bill Smith said it was a blessing that so many people came together to fight the fire with no injuries.

“For all of those folks who came from Tazewell or wherever to focus in our city, to get that many people in one area and not have any injuries is amazing. We want to thank God for that. We also thank the chief because he was the man in charge,” he said.

New Councilman Floyd Branham also extended his congratulations to England and the Fire Department on a job well done.

“Local law enforcement, EMTs and firefighters often go unrecognized until you need them. Your guys did a really good job and I want to thank you for them,” he said.

Also during Tuesday’s meeting Josh Campbell from the Sewer Department said he would like to bids out next month for building a cover over the sludge pad.

“It’s basically just a giant metal building covering the sludge so it doesn’t get wet. You’re kind of defeating the purpose of pressing it out and making it a solid when you put it outside and let it get rained on,” he said. “We always have problems having the solids hauled. When the sludge gets wet instead of having one box it takes two boxes to load the same sludge because it gets sloppy and wet. . . This would eliminate a lot of issues.”

Campbell also said he would like to get some tarp material to use as doors so they could close the sludge up and mitigate some of the smell.

“If it’s covered we can dump in the corners and all the way in the back and stack it up with a backhoe. That way we can keep more solids,” he said. “Right now we can only do about five dumps on the sludge pad. . . I’d like to fix it to where maybe we can do ten or twelve dumps, that would buy us a little more time.”

Council member Glynna Brown asked if there was a hard quote on the price of the building. Cmpbell said they did not yet have one.

Mayor Bowling said he would guess the cost would be in the $55,000 to $70,000 range. The building would be 40 x 60 feet and about 20 feet tall.

Bowling said if the council agreed he would get the bid documents ready for them to approve next month. “That way we can move forward and advertise for bids,” he said.

There were no objections from the council.

Council member Brad Cawood reminded everyone that sign-ups for Middlesboro T-Ball and Tri-State Baseball had started.

Brad Cawood

“They will be at the Middlesboro Elementary gym on Feb. 1, 8, 15 and 22 from 9 to 3. Get your kids out there and get them into sports early,” he said.

The next council meeting will be on Feb. 18