By Shannon McFarlin News Director
Cottage Grove, Tenn.–Amid an outpouring of sadness from the community, the cause of Sunday night’s fire which destroyed Carmack’s Fish Barn is pending investigation by firefighters.
Carmack’s is a landmark in the local area, open since 1984, serving good catfish, beans and hush puppies to its loyal customers.
Shortly before 8 p.m. last night, the Cottage Grove Volunteer Fire Department was called to Carmack’s and found flames burning through two-thirds of the roof, according to Firefighter Tyler Miller. In his post on the Cottage Grove Fire Department’s Facebook page last night, Miller said, “This is a sad one y’all. We lost a very special local favorite tonight…”
Upon arrival, he said, “We set up a dump tank operation & made a defensive attack on the fire. We are saddened to say that it was a total loss. Our deepest sympathies go out to the owners (Kaylene Radford & Corey Radford for this very unfortunate incident.”
Firefighters received mutual aid from Como/Ore Springs; Paris, Gleason and the Henry County EMA. Traffic was directed by the Henry County Sheriff’s Office.
Firefighters were on the scene for four and a half hours and were called back to the scene at 2:40 a.m. when two back corners of the fire rekindled. They also extinguished a couple of other hot spots and were on the scene the second time for about an hour and a half.
EMA personnel provided drone thermal imaging footage and two personnel. Firefighters also thanked the sheriffs deputies for directing traffic so the trucks could flow through properly to refill with water.
Photos by Tyler Miller.