By Zachary Stieber
Contributing Writer
Multiple people were killed in a blast Friday at a facility in Tennessee that makes explosives, a local sheriff said.
“We do have several people at this time unaccounted for. We are trying to be mindful of families and that situation,” Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis told a briefing after the explosion at Accurate Energetic Systems in Bucksnort. “We do have some folks we can confirm … that are deceased.”
Davis said that officials were still in the process of notifying families regarding their relatives. He also said the blast, which took place around 7:45 a.m., encompassed an entire building.
The sheriff’s office declined to immediately provide more information.
Aerial footage showed charred rubble, including multiple vehicles that were destroyed. Davis called it “a very violent scene.”
It’s not clear yet what caused the explosion.
Accurate Energetic Systems did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Emergency crews were initially unable to enter the plant because of continuing detonations, Hickman County Advanced EMT David Stewart said. He didn’t have any additional details.
“This is a tragedy for our community,” McEwen Mayor Brad Rachford said in an email.
Officials with the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation were among those responding to the scene.
The blast rattled Gentry Stover from his sleep.
“I thought the house had collapsed with me inside of it,” he said. “I live very close to Accurate and I realized about 30 seconds after I woke up that it had to have been that.”
The blast could be heard from at least 21 miles away, according to area residents.
Accurate Energetic Systems, according to its website, develops, manufactures and stores “a diverse array of energetic products and explosives for military, aerospace and commercial demolition markets.” The company says it has eight specialized production buildings and a laboratory on 1,300 acres in Bucksnort.
“Our manufacturing facilities are designed with environmental control systems to ensure optimal conditions for the production of high-quality energetics and explosives,” the site says.
The facility is about an hour’s drive west from Nashville.
Public records show that the company has been awarded military contracts in previous years, including by the U.S. Army and Navy, for landmines and other products.
Officials at the Pentagon said that they were aware of the reports and were looking into the situation.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
