The Martin Fire Department responded to two separate house fires in the past week – one on Friday and another on Monday.

Parish Road Blaze
     According to Martin Fire Chief Oren True, a rental house fire erupted Monday at 135 Parish Road at approximately 11:33 a.m. and firefighters were on the scene at 11:36 a.m.
     “By the time we arrived, the fire had breached the outside walls up to the second floor,” Chief True said. “We made an interior attack for about the first two minutes, but we had to back out because the heat was so intense. We went back outside and cooled it from the outside for a minute or so and went back in and got the fire under control, where we could actually do some interior work. We got inside and got it out, and proceeded to go through the salvage overhaul and investigation phases.
    “Basically, his contents are a total loss and the interior of the structure,” Chief True added. “If you were going to salvage the structure, basically, it would be an all new interior.” He stated that although the framing of the house appears to be sound, the tongue-in-groove, pine paneling that covered the walls and ceiling was scorched by the flames and would have to be replaced.
     Chief True stated that there were 10 Martin firefighters responding to the blaze, who were assisted by eight firefighters from Sharon and another two from Dresden. As for firefighting equipment utilized in extinguishing the fire, there were four from Martin, two from Sharon and one from Dresden.
     Also assisting in working the emergency were members of the Martin Police Department and Weakley County Ambulance Service.
     “We transported one firefighter for minor injuries, but he was not kept overnight,” Chief True said.
     “We asked for the assistance of the State Fire Marshal’s Office, just to verify what we had seen. The fire’s cause will remain undetermined only because, at this point, we’re still looking into several things. It is not, at this point, being treated as a crime scene.”
     The owner of the house is Ron Tharpe of Jackson, Tenn.

Fulton Street Fire

     In an unrelated incident, members of the Martin Fire Department responded Friday to a house fire at 138 Fulton Street, which was reported at 10:03 a.m. and firefighters were on the scene by 10:06.
     Chief True stated that this older home, which is owned by Glynn Quarles, had a lot of wood on the walls and when it flashed, basically, everything in the room ignited. He explained that the smoke inside of the building had flammable gases in it, which allowed the flames to flash through it, causing a lot of heat damage throughout the house.
     “It vented itself through the front windows, so it was lapping out to the eaves when we got there,” Chief True said. “The guys went in an made an interior check and got it put out, but you’ve got a lot of interior damage.  Structurally, it’s sound. It’s just all of the contents and most of the wall coverings are gone.”
     Chief True stated that the cause of this fire has been ruled accidental. He said that a faulty electrical switch it believed to have been what sparked the blaze.
He stated that there were 14 firefighters utilizing five pieces of equipment in battling the fire, which was extinguished at approximately 10:21 a.m.

     The Sharon Board may have solved their police chief problem on Monday night as they selected current SPD officer Brad Hardin, 24, as the city’s new police chief.
     On the same night when the board interviewed four candidates for the police chief’s position, a 2-1-1 vote by the board gave the position to Hardin, who graduated from the police academy last week.
     Alderman Darrell Miller made the motion to hire Hardin as the city’s police chief.
     “The way I see it, he (Hardin) stuck with us during the problems with the police department, so I am sticking with him,” Miller told the board.
     With Jeff Freeman abstaining from the voting, both Miller and Sara Robinson voted to pass the measure while Floyd  Edwards voted against the measure.
     Only moments before the vote, Robinson said she would move for the board to table the matter, allowing the board time to think about the move.
     Another motion, made by Edwards, to hire another current employee of the SPD, Ron Cagle, as the chief, failed 3-1.
     In addition to Hardin and Cagle, the board also interviewed William Wetherall, from Bruceton, and Michael Morris, from Finger, Tenn.
     This was the first time that the interview process had been done in public forum as each of the four applicants answered questions from the board – ranging from subjects like patrolling the bypass to how they would run the department to educating the youth of Sharon.