Rocky Top apartments destroyed
Firefighters rescue residents from Tuesday morning blaze
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At 9 a.m. Tuesday, flames were still visible inside the building at 319 S. Main St. in Rocky Top as firefighters continued to battle the blaze that was reported just before 4 a.m. - G. Chambers Williams III
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Firefighters crowd Main Street in downtown Rocky Top on Tuesday morning battling a fire in a warehouse/ apartment building at 319 S. Main St., which was reported just before 4 a.m. The ladder truck is from the Clinton Fire Department. - G. Chambers Williams III
Firefighters from at least eight departments were still fighting a fire late Tuesday morning in a warehouse and apartment building in downtown Rocky Top that was first reported at 3:56 a.m.
Police Chief John Thomas told The Courier News that firefighters had to rescue several people from the five apartments on the second floor of the two-story building at 319 S. Main St., next door to the Coal Creek General Store.
He said he couldn’t say yet whether anyone was injured or had perished in the fire. Social media reports suggested there was one fatality, but Thomas could not verify that.
“Rocky Top fire got the call at 3:56 a.m., and got here before the building was fully involved with fire, and got the residents out,” Thomas said.
“About eight people were displaced, and are now being assisted by the American Red Cross,” the chief said at 9 a.m.
“We still have no information on the cause or origin,” Thomas said.
“We do have the TBI on the scene to help with the investigation.”
Flames were still visible, at the side of the building at 9 a.m. as firefighters were spraying water on the top of the building from the Clinton Fire Department’s big ladder truck, Tower One.
Thomas said the first floor of the building is used as a warehouse, and all the apartments are on the second floor.
Main Street in downtown Rocky Top was closed between Second and Fourth streets to accommodate fire equipment and firefighting efforts, and Thomas said it would not be reopened to traffic until after the fire was put out and investigators were finished examining the scene.
Besides Rocky Top and Clinton, other fire departments on the scene included Ridgewood, Medford, Caryville, LaFollette, Briceville, Marlow and Andersonville.
The fire did not spread to any other structures. The building that burned is separated from Coal Creek General Store by a parking lot.
Smoke from the fire blanketed the air above Rocky Top, and looking toward the city’s downtown area from the nearby Interstate 75, it seemed that the city was covered by fog at 9 a.m.