KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — On Wednesday May 1, 2019, a massive plume of black smoke could be seen from miles away from the source.
That source was a fire that broke out at Fort Loudon Waste & Recycling in the Oakwood-Lincoln Park neighborhood of North Knoxville.
The Knoxville Fire Department said the call came in about 1 p.m. that day. The call came from someone visiting Knoxville and was unfamiliar with the area to give directions. They spotted the smoke while on Sharps Ridge.
"I remember coming out to my car to respond and I looked and I thought 'ohh yeah, it's a fire, I can see it from here on Summit Hill,'" said Knoxville Fire Captain D.J. Corcoran. "I mean the sky was just full of black smoke."
That smoke was seen for miles away. Drivers headed east on I-40 from West Knox County could see the plume and debris from the fire spread to surrounding counties.
"I didn't know what we had at the time but I knew it was something really big," he said.
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KFD crews arrived to a fully involved fire at Fort Loudon Waste & Recycling in North Knoxville.
"They had a lot of fire load, heavy fire load that they shouldn't have had," said Corcoran.
Plastics were melting, other recyclable materials fed the fire, and propane tanks acted as projectiles around the scene as neighbors started hearing loud popping noises.
"I was being told to get out, just yelling 'get out! You have to get out,'" said David Hughes, who worked in a business next door to the plant. "It's really frightening to look up above the building and see that much smoke."
Businesses and homes in a several block radius around the fire were evacuated for about 12 hours as crews tried to control the flames.
About 100 KFD firefighters worked for three days straight to fully extinguish the flames and they stayed for much longer monitoring hotspots.
Corcoran said they continued to watch the comings and goings of the plant through the fall of 2019, then passed the reigns over to the City of Knoxville's codes enforcement.
Over the past year, 10News has uncovered late payments, debt and other financial troubles surrounding Fort Loudon Waste & Recycling.
It owed more than $350,000 in unpaid city and county taxes at the time of the fire.
In February 2020, Knoxville's law department was prepared to sue the recycling plant in Knox County Chancery Court for four notices of violation.
The city issued the notices because the struggling firm had failed to secure a special pollution abatement permit to resume operations. David Brace, Chief Operating Officer for the City of Knoxville, said then Knoxville officials have conducted numerous inspections of the site and verified that it has continued to take in recycling materials, even though it lacked the abatement permit. It still does not have that permit.
In March 2020, the business paid more than $5,000 in fines to the city to cover violation notices.
An onsite visit was conducted on Tuesday, April 21, 2020, and they did not note any violations at that time.
10News reached out to plant owner Jason Bales for comment. He had no comment to give, but when asked what activity is happening on the site, Bales said they're "just cleaning up."
Brace told 10News "based on the current observations of City personnel, there is slow but methodical progress being made to clear the site."
Community members that live around the plant beg to differ, saying they've seen work going on at the plant that isn't allowed.
"The city has let them keep working and doing business as usual," said Kristen Green, who lived in the neighborhood at the time of the fire. "It's scary and upsetting that they have not given anyone an apology personally."
"The City continues to receive calls about FLWR continuing to operate, but at this time, the City has no documented evidence of any business operations other than loading truck to haul off material," Brace said in an email to 10News. "The west side of the property is leased to another company that uses the site for storage of equipment and supplies, and their shipments to the location could have been mistaken for FLWR receiving new recyclable materials."
Environmental impacts are another concern for the surrounding neighborhood.
Stormwater engineers were focusing on Second Creek for ash and pollutants. While they found a few problem areas, they were able to find a solution to protect life in the creek.
On the day of the fire, booms were placed to help prevent pollutants from reaching Second Creek.
“There were no dead fish in Second Creek, but there were a few oxygen-low areas in the waters, and we saw very few fish swimming,” said Chris Howley, City Engineering Planning Chief, who oversees the Stormwater Division.
Two days after the fire, officials similarly said the oxygen levels were lower than normal in some parts of Second Creek, but it hadn't gotten to the point where it would kill fish.
The Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation and city engineers did a walk-through of the creek the day after the fire and found no serious concerns with water quality.
TDEC had been assigned to assess potential environmental impacts in the surrounding area and waters.
They ended their active monitoring at the end of May 2019.
TDEC said then their staff met with the facility owner, who said he plans to recycle all remaining metal debris as well as discard waste paper and burnt plastic in a landfill in the near future.
Brace gave 10News an update on the plant's location at the end of April.
"At this time, the business does not have a valid demolition permit, and their certificate of occupancy has been revoked, so they are not permitted to conduct business or to demolish any structures," Brace said in an email to 10News. "The City’s Codes office has been conducting periodic inspections in response to complaints, but found no violations."
Bales has been quiet since the fire but has not mentioned any plans to reopen the facility. Fort Loudon Waste and Recycling can still load trucks to haul off material.
"If they wish to reopen, they will be required to apply for City permits, including an SPAP (Special Pollution Abatement Permit) through City Engineering," said Brace. "In order to demolish any structures, they will need to obtain a new demolition permit through the City Codes Department."
As of late April 2020, they have not applied for any of these permits.
Corcoran said this could have been prevented if the plant had the right safety measures in place. He said the business attempted to put out the fire themselves, which made it bigger and delayed an appropriate response.
"A firefighter is more of a reaction to a situation," said Corcoran. "But if you can prevent it and get ahead of it, that's what we'd like to do."