Emergency response prevents potential hazardous material disaster on I-24 in Coffee County

COFFEE COUNTY, Tenn. (WKRN) — A section of Interstate 24 in Coffee County is now clear after a semi-truck caught fire Tuesday afternoon while carrying ten tanks of nitrogen gas.

“If the fire impinges enough on that tank, that tank could explode,” said Allen Lendley, Director of the Coffee County Emergency Management Agency and Homeland Security.

Lendly said officials arrived to the scene within seven minutes, adding while traffic was halted, first responders extinguished the fire just as it was starting to breach the trailer.

“Hazardous material is something that we don’t take lightly, because if it gets out of its container, it creates a lot of problems, depending on the chemical,” he explained.

Manchester Fire and Rescue crews reportedly took their thermal imaging camera and determined the tanks were cool enough to be taken off the truck safely.

According to Lendly, hazardous materials are driven up and down I-24 near Manchester frequently, so Coffee County has a team on standby prepared for moments like these.

“We’re the only team between Chattanooga and Murfreesboro… We train daily. We actually just got through teaching a class this morning,” he added.

Lendly also pointed out that containers for hazardous materials follow strict federal guidelines, so it would take something extreme or negligent to break a container.

However, in cases like these, hazardous response teams are in place for worst case scenarios.

Thanks to the quick and thoughtful response from multiple agencies, traffic was only halted for about one hour.