Connect with us

Featured

Firefighters Battling Huge Blaze at American Furniture Plant in Ecru

Published

on

HottyToddy.com associate editor Randall Haley snapped this photo at the American Furniture plant around 11 a.m. Firefighters are working to contain and tame the blaze.


Editor’s note: This story is being updated by HottyToddy.com associate editor Randall Haley, who’s reporting on the spot, as new information comes in.
Firefighters from multiple cities and counties have managed to contain a massive blaze at American Furniture, a manufacturing plant in Ecru. They’re now working to keep the fire from spreading to other areas of the facility.
No injuries have been reported at this time.
Robby Watson of American Furniture said he reported the fire to the Pontotoc County Fire Department at 7:18 a.m. He said the fire may have started with a fuse box, but that’s not certain yet.
Fire departments from nearby Sherman, Thaxton and Calhoun City, as well as Union, Lee, Chickasaw and Calhoun counties, have also joined the fray, with about 50 trucks on the scene and 100 firefighters.

“We’re getting water from two water systems currently – the city of Pontotoc and also the city of Ecru’s water system,” said Pontotoc County Fire Coordinator Adam Patton. “The trucks we are using – we are using tankers. Some of them are 1,500 gallons of water, and some of them are up to 5,000 gallons of water.”
“Right now we are trying to keep the fire from getting to the offices,” Patton added. “We have contained the fire. We’ve cut the fire off from the east end. Our main challenge is to keep everybody safe [and] save what we can in the safest manner.”
The losses for American Furniture could be significant since the company has been exhibiting at the Tupelo Furniture Market this week. The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal reports that the company had 50,000 pieces of furniture stored at the Ecru facility for the event.
“They saved Warehouse D,” Watson told HottyToddy.com, but he estimated the company could lose between 1/2 and 3/4 of the plant, including most of the warehouses, as of now.
According to the Daily Journal, this is the third fire at the plant since 2001.
Patton told HottyToddy.com he helped combat another fire at the plant in 2008. “At the time, we were not able to contain that fire. Experience taught us this time to jump on it better, strategy-wise, and we got in front of it.”
This story will be updated if/when more information becomes available.

Randall Haley is HottyToddy.com’s associate editor. Email her at randall.haley@hottytoddy.com.

Advertisement
Click to comment

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

2024 Ole Miss Football

Sat, Aug 31vs Furman W, 76-0
Sat, Sep 7vs Middle TennesseeW, 52-3
Sat, Sep 14@ Wake ForestW, 40-6
Sat, Sep 21vs Georgia SouthernW, 52-13
Sat, Sep 28vs KentuckyL, 20-17
Sat, Oct 5@ South CarolinaW, 27-3
Sat, Oct 12vs LSUL, 29-26 (2 OT)
Sat, Oct 26vs OklahomaW, 26-14
Sat, Nov 2@ ArkansasW, 63-35
Sat, Nov 16vs GeorgiaW, 28-10
Sat, Nov 23@ FloridaL, 24-17
Sat, Nov 30vs Mississippi StateW, 26-14
Thu, Jan 2vs Duke (Gator Bowl)6:30 PM • ESPN