The Knoxville Fire Department was kept busy this Fourth of July, responding to a series of fires and emergencies throughout the city. According to WVLT, fire officials had to quickly attend to a vehicle fire in North Knoxville, where juveniles were reportedly shooting fireworks from a car before it caught on fire. Assistant Chief Mark Wilbanks stated that fire crews arrived before the police and began to extinguish the flames. All five occupants in the vehicle were treated at the UT Medical Center for various degrees of burn injuries.
It was not the only fire the department had to fight; throughout the holiday, KFD responded to 99 calls from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., marking a slight increase from the previous year. As shared by WBIR, the calls included nine grass and brush fires, 12 trash and dumpster fires, and one confirmed structure fire caused by fireworks. The spike in firework-related calls also resulted in five emergency responses to burn injuries.
The danger wasn't only to the public; KFD personnel found themselves in harm's way when fireworks reportedly injured one firefighter. A firework shot into the cab of a firetruck in the Lonsdale community caused possible hearing issues for the firefighter, along with minor damage to equipment. The specifics of the injury have not been disclosed, but concerns over the safety of first responders remain, as mentioned by WBIR.
Moreover, crews were deployed to Ohio Avenue overnight to quickly contain an unoccupied house fire, determined to have been sparked by fireworks. In a statement obtained by WATE 6 News, KFD outlined other incidents handled, which included four multi-vehicle accidents and five overdoses. As the weekend is expected to remain hot and dry, KFD is urgently asking the public to refrain from using fireworks to reduce the potential for more fires.
