KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — The images from the ground are unbelievable.
"I was shooting from as close as I could get to it," Skylar Smith, a local photographer, told 10News. "I had to take kind of a weird route to get there."
Smith said he saw the flames from the windows of Asen Marketing and Advertising, where he works in downtown Knoxville. So he grabbed his camera and headed that way.
Armed with just his Canon 5D amid a mesh of working firefighters and onlooking pedestrians, he said everyone on scene seemed to be in a state of shock.
"The fire was so large that everyone seemed to be a little bit fearful," Smith said. "I heard one bystander say they heard two explosions."
The images depict firefighters and other personnel on the ground actively battling the massive garbage fire that broke out. The images also put into perspective the scale of the fire.
"It was a little bit overwhelming how big the smoke plumes were," Smith said.
The Knoxville Fire Department said it could take hours, possibly days to put out the massive fire that has broken out at Fort Loudon Waste and Recycling on Wednesday afternoon.
"It's a big trash fire," said Capt. DJ Corcoran.
What's burning is paper, cardboard, and plastic, which is what the company recycles. The burning plastic is what's causing that heavy, black smoke.
The fire is about one acre of a 10-acre lot, KFD said. They are working to keep it from spreading.
So far, about 65 homes have been evacuated but there have been no reported injuries.
UP CLOSE: Knoxville garbage fire
The scene Smith depicted likely won't change in the coming days.
Fires like this are difficult to put out, said Corcoran, because the source of the fire is buried under so much debris. It's very labor-intensive and could take days.
The owner told fire investigators that a piece of equipment backfired and a plume of smoke ignited a pile of paper. Arson investigators are on the scene and will confirm what started the fire.
KUB said they had cut power to about 700 homes for a short time to make sure that infrastructure is not damaged. Most power is back on for residents.
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