Cookeville FD Helps Sparta FD With Fire At Sparta Metal Processing

The Sparta Fire Department was joined by the Cookeville FD Tuesday morning after Sparta FD had difficulty putting out a fire at Sparta Metal Processing.

Cookeville Battalion Chief Cliff Venters said Sparta crews had been working since Monday evening to put the fire out. He said to his understanding, metal shavings caught fire and filled the exhaust, which then caused a holding silo to catch fire.

“They just could not get water inside the silo so we actually used our aerial platform and assisted in opening up the silo and putting water in it,” Venters said. “We had the elevated master stream which pumped thousands of gallons of water so that assisted in the whole process.”

Venters said they were on the scene for about 3.5 hours. He said there were no injuries, but the loss status would be determined by the Sparta Fire Department.

Venters said the Cookeville Fire Department has mutual aid agreements with other emergency response agencies statewide. He said getting to help another department is always rewarding and personnel enjoy responding to the calls.

“We honored and glad to help, I think that’s what Cookeville is all about,” Venters said. “Everybody is moving here from all over the country because we’re those kinds of people and we’re especially that way at the Fire Department. So we really just jump at the chance to help anybody, especially those other fire departments in our area.”