CLEVELAND, Tenn. (WDEF) – Amaero has temporarily shut down operations at its Cleveland facility after another incident Tuesday morning, marking the company’s third emergency response this year.
The incident happened while workers were removing a PVC pipe during cleanup work tied to a previous event. Bradley County emergency leaders say the pipe had a flash fire, and residual material inside continued smoldering afterward. No one was hurt.
Sergeant Stephen Warner with the Cleveland Police Department says outside experts are now reviewing the company’s systems and procedures.
“They’ve got a team of third-party experts that are reviewing designs and processes that the plant uses,” Warner said.
Amaero has halted operations while that review is underway.
Warner added, “Amaero has shut down all of their operations until that team of third-party experts can determine the safest way to continue to demolish and remove that damaged equipment.”
Bradley County Emergency Management Director Troy Spence says crews were actively working when the flash fire broke out.
“While they were attempting to remove a PVC pipe… the pipe had a flash fire, and from that, there was still residual product in the pipe, and it’s smoldering right now, and it’ll eventually just go away,” Spence said.
Spence also pointed to issues tied to earlier incidents at the plant.
“Well, a couple of things twice they had oxygen get into the process, and then the rest of the incidents we believe the static that the vent pipe is creating,” he said.
“They’re attempting to fix that problem, so it doesn’t happen again.”
Amaero CEO Hank Holland says the company is working with first responders and adjusting its cleanup process.
“We’ll consult closely with first responders so this will be a decision that is made in conjunction with them,” Holland said.
He added that the company is replacing materials involved in the cleanup work.
“Number one, we are demoing some of this PVC pipe… taking out some of this material to replace it with stainless steel,” Holland said.
He also said workers were able to stop the fire before emergency crews arrived, using a fire blanket.
The company remains under review as outside experts and emergency crews continue evaluating how cleanup and demolition work will move forward safely.
