COOLIDGE, GA (WALB) -
Woodhaven Industries is one of Thomas County's busiest employers, but Wednesday afternoon the work stopped at their plant in Coolidge.
Chief Chris Jones of the Thomas County Fire Department said, "around 2 o'clock this afternoon, we had a report of a fire at the Woodhaven facility here in Coolidge."
The plant makes furniture for Aaron's among others and with all of the wood around it spread quickly.
Chief Jones said, "(The) first units arriving on the scene found quite a bit of fire on the outside of the building, but then they found the fire was progressing very rapidly inside the structure as well."
The fire was large enough to get response from a number of departments, and with all of that manpower on hand it was out almost as quickly as it had started.
"Within three to five minutes of the first units getting there," said Chief Jones.
But in that time, smoke filled the building. Hours after it had started, firefighters were still inside and outside of the building making sure that there were no hotspots and trying to clear the air.
Fortunately, the evacuation plan went well and while the work may have to stop for a while, there is some good news.
"No one was hurt, thankfully," Chief Jones said.
He credits the quick thinking by the plant's employees for the lack of injuries.
Chief Jones said, "they did an excellent job of evacuating the facility."
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