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Despite the series of events that led to explosions and a large fire at Palatec Manufacturing Inc.’s Park City location in Lincoln County in the early morning hours of Thursday, Randy and Kaye Cowley said they are “still in business.”

Palatec Manufacturing is a pallet-making business located at 2998 Huntsville Highway.

“I can assure you we are not laying down and giving up. As a family, we fight,” Palatec Manufacturing’s social media page said in a post on Friday evening. “We are producing and shipping from our new pallet facility in Flintville. … We will resume production and shipping on reconditioned pallets at the Fayetteville (Huntsville Highway) location. Our office will be at a temporary location for a little while, but the phones are being answered and we are answering emails.”

The owners also thanked everyone for their support.

“We would like to thank all the firefighters, police, first responders, utility workers and volunteers for all they did and are still doing for us,” another post said. “(We) would also like to thank everyone for the thoughts and prayers for us and all of our employees and their families.”

Lincoln County Emergency Management Director and Fire Chief Doug Campbell said he was alerted about a two-vehicle wreck on Huntsville Highway at approximately 3:40 a.m. on Thursday. He said he was listening to dispatcher traffic when another alert was sent.

According to Campbell, when first responders arrived on the scene of the wreck, they realized one vehicle had struck a utility pole. The sparks from the utility pole ignited nearby pallets. The fire then traveled to a 1,000-gallon propane tank and a 500-gallon diesel tank causing large explosions at approximately 4:20 a.m. that blew the windows out of nearby homes and knocked a few first responders off their feet.

No fatalities have been reported, according to officials. However, they said there were injuries involved in the wreck.

Power outages were reported in the area, and some homes were evacuated.

Mutual aid was called in from several surrounding agencies and departments outside of Lincoln County, according to Campbell.

Lincoln County issued an “all call,” which is only used in rare instances, according to reports.

Officials said when the propane tank ignited, it caused a boiling liquid expanding vapor explosion, referred to as BLEVE, and part of the tank traveled about 250 feet in the air. Campbell said the remaining part of the propane tank traveled about 1,250 feet before landing across the road.

Several residents and those who work in the area said they saw what looked and sounded like an explosion and large flames coming from the facility where thousands of pallets were ignited.

Campbell said that Palatec’s newest building – a $500,000 investment – was saved.

“All the pallets, the office and the shop building were lost in the fire,” Campbell added.

Residential homes across from Palatec sustained the most damage, according to Campbell.

“The windows blew when the BLEVE happened,” he said, adding other homes sustained damage to siding, fascia and trim. “Luckily, no other structures caught on fire.”

The fire shut down Huntsville Highway for about 10 hours, and several surrounding properties and homes in residential areas were evacuated.

Campbell credits responders for answering the call even though it was during a time when most people were still asleep or just waking up.

Campbell said Lincoln County had a “phenomenal response” to the scene. He said the initial responders to the scene did an “outstanding” job assessing the scene and preparing other responders.

He thanked all the volunteers for their dedication. “Some people missed work and took vacation or sick days to stay on the scene,” Campbell said. “They gave up potential income to be there.

“I can’t say enough about the initial scene assessment and the job they did sizing it up. That speaks to their training and dedication.”

He said their jobs didn’t stop after working the scene for about 10 hours on Thursday. They spent four to five hours cleaning and preparing equipment for the next call, Campbell said.

From the Lincoln County fire departments, Fayetteville Fire Department, Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department, Tennessee Highway Patrol, Fayetteville Police Department, Lincoln Health EMS, Lincoln County dispatchers, Fayetteville Public Utilities, Tennessee Forestry, Tennessee Department of Transportation, Stovall Wrecker Service, Brown Construction, Walmart and more, Campbell said it was a “community effort.”

He said those who answered the call outside of Lincoln County also did an outstanding job. He offered his thanks to neighboring departments in Moore, Franklin and Giles counties and Madison County, Alabama.

Sheriff Joyce McConnell and other officials said they were also thankful for the help and response from Lincoln County’s neighboring departments in Tennessee and North Alabama.

“FPU responded as soon as we were notified that a vehicle had crashed into a utility pole breaking it down,” Fayetteville Public Utilities CEO and General Manager Britt Dye said. “Several hundred customers from Park City south toward the state line were without power and internet.

“Due to the redundancy built into our infrastructure, we were able to restore power to most customers within an hour and 45 minutes. The initial auto accident and subsequent fire destroyed two utility poles, damaged several hundred feet of conductor and severed fiber. By later that afternoon, we had restored all power and FPU internet to our customers.”

Campbell said though he doesn’t know how hot the fire burned, it “may have been the biggest, hottest and quickest fire I’ve been on in my 30 years.”

“Thank you all for your support,” the Cowleys said in a Facebook post.