Dandridge Volunteer Fire Deparment Responds to Fire at Wetekam Monofilaments

Staff Photo by Angie Stanley

On Thursday, Dandridge Volunteer Fire Department received a call of a structure fire at Wetekam Monofilaments on Pine Drive in the Jefferson County Industrial Park. The call was received at around 12:07 pm and the fire department was dispatched from station 1, arriving within minutes.

Company employees were on their lunch when suddenly they heard something “boom” in the center of the 85,000 square foot building. Upon going to investigate, employees observed smoke pouring out of the maintenance room, and flames going up the back wall. When witnesses realized that they could not put out the fire with fire extinguishers, they pulled the fire alarm and evacuated the building. The sprinkler system in the area was activated, 6 in all, and were still going when firefighters arrived on the scene.

According to Andy Riley, Dandridge Fire Chief, when the firefighters arrived on the scene the building was filled with smoke and there was zero visibility. They had to use the geothermal cameras to find where the fire was, and found the sprinklers were doing their job. After they ensured the fire was extinguished, they disabled the sprinkler system to prevent any more water damage.

All employees were evacuated safely by the time firefighters arrived on scene, and there were no injuries reported.

Per standard protocol, DVFD was assisted by two other area fire departments. They initially got support from Lakeway Area and Kansas-Talbott Volunteers, but the other departments were pulled away on another call. White Pine Volunteer firefighters and New Market were dispatched to lend their support. In all there were 10 Dandridge Firefighters on scene, 21 total.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation, with insurance representatives scheduled to be on scene Friday. Wetekam is anxious to get electricians and technicians on site. The company was in the process of running their first full production in their new facility when the fire occurred, and hope to be back up and running quickly.

Staff Photo by Angie Stanley