4 firefighters injured in Madison Co. sawmill fire; residents still concerned

DENMARK, Tenn. — Thick smoke is making it hard for some residents to take a deep breath.

“It’s causing issues right now. I’m sorry. I’m having trouble breathing out here,” Denmark resident Brenda Moss said.

Friday, a small fire turned into a large one at the sawmill at Hooper Timber in Denmark.

“We have been fighting a small surface fire on the sawdust pile for about six months to a year,” owner Timmy Hooper said. “It’s about a 2-foot fire. Every morning, we come out and pick it out of the way. The other day, somehow the wind got up and the mulch caught on fire.”

That’s not the only thing igniting.

“When the wind got going, it blew it over to the slabs. The slabs caught on fire, and there are a huge amount of slabs,” Hooper said.

Hooper says he is thankful for the Madison County Fire Department who went above and beyond to get the blaze under control.

“There were several trucks out here, 15 to 20 of them. They were putting out water. The main thing is they were trying to save the wheat fields,” Hooper said.

Four firefighters were injured. Three were treated on scene for heat exhaustion. One was taken to the hospital suffering a heart attack.

“It burns your nose. It burns your throat,” Moss said. “It gets in your house. You can’t escape it.”

Residents say they are the ones being smothered by the flames.

“Very difficult to breathe. You couldn’t be outside. Forget enjoying the weekend with the good weather,” Moss said. “There was smoke so thick at times that you could not see across the highway.”

It’s something Hooper says he can’t apologize enough about.

“Just hope the community can bear with us until we get it done, and we definitely apologize for the inconvenience,” Hooper said.