Columbia-Adair County VFD Helps Save Bulk Of Building in Fire At Fruit Of The Loom

At least three explosions and a massive fire tore through the old Fruit of the Loom building on West Main Street in Campbellsville early Tuesday.  No one was hurt, but a fourth of the large vacant warehouse was destroyed, and the Columbia/Adair County Fire Department received praises and thanks from the Campbellsville Fire Chief as ladder truck 1 kept the fire from spreading through out the entire building.
According to Campbellsville Fire Chief Allen Johnson the Columbia crew are the heroes of the day.
"They really saved us on this because there was no way we could have battled the blaze from the ground due to the elevated foundation of the building we could not get water to the area of the fire," stated Chief Johnson.
The fire broke out sometime around 5:19 a.m. EDT Tuesday morning as Campbellsville dispatch began receiving calls from nearby residents to report loud explosions.
Campbellsville firefighters arrived on the scene and found debris scattered on Hwy 55 that had apparently been projected onto the roadway during the explosion as a fire roared from the roof of the warehouse section of the old factory.
According to Chief Johnson 55 firefighters from nine departments including Campbellsville, Taylor County, Greensburg, Green County, Grab, Summersville, Raywick, Lebanon and Adair County battled the blaze for several hours.
The destroyed section of the building was being used by Amazon.com and Airguard as a storage facility and contained several items including air filters and several propane cylinders used to power forklifts, which according to Chief Johnson, apparently exploded.
"The heat is what probably caused the explosions because it causes the liquid in propane tanks to boil and eventually explode," commented Chief Johnson. 
Firefighters battled the blaze for approximately four hours while the Columbia Ladder Truck stayed on the scene continuing to spray water on the hot spots of the falling building.
According to Chief Johnson, no one was injured during the fire and that reports of homeless individuals that had been seen on several occasions at the location prior to the fire were in a completely different section of the building and did not have access to the area of blaze.
Chief Johnson also stated that the cause of the fire has not yet been determined and is currently under investigation. Photo:The Columbia/Adair County Ladder Truck responded to the aid of the Campbellsville Fire Department and became the heroes of the day according to CFD Chief Allen Johnson as the fully extended 100-foot ladder stretches over the burning rubble to keep the fire under control. (Photo By Lawrence Harris)