While Brown Countians were battling the weather, local volunteer firefighters were fighting a garage fire on one of the coldest days of the year.
The detached garage, in the 1900 block of State Road 135 North, was a complete loss, said Brown County (Nashville) Volunteer Fire Department Chief Nick Kelp.
The fire was reported just after 12:30 p.m. Jan. 30. The high temperature that day was 3 degrees.
Fruitdale, Jackson Township, Hamblen Township, Cordry-Sweetwater, Southern Brown and Morgantown volunteer fire departments all assisted at the scene.
Kelp said crews were rotated frequently so that the volunteers could warm up inside their trucks with the heat on.
“(It was) absolutely a challenge,” Kelp said about the freezing temperatures.
Along with the cold weather, Kelp said another challenge was that the garage had many flammable items in it, including pieces of wood, car parts, and numerous propane, oxygen and acetylene tanks.
One of the propane tanks did blow up and caught an adjacent camper on fire. The exterior of the home began to catch fire and the siding melted on the south side, but firefighters were able to put that fire out and save the home, Kelp said.
Two firefighters were sent to the hospital to be checked out for smoke inhalation, but were released the same day.
The cause of the fire remains undetermined.
Firefighters called back three times to fight rekindles of the same fire.
