LEBANON, Tenn. – Two people were injured Thursday night at the Bridgestone tire distribution facility in Lebanon after a severe line of storms pushed through the area.
Dan MacDonald, Vice President of Communications for Bridgestone, told Nashville's News 2 a security guard was injured when her guard shack blew over and another employee was hit in the back by flying debris.
Both were not seriously hurt. They were treated at local hospitals and have since been released.
MacDonald said the storm's winds collapsed a 100-yard wall of the one-million square foot building, which in turn caused the roof to cave in.
Thirty-five employees were inside when the storm hit.
Send your storm photos and videos to pix@wkrn.com.
MacDonald said, "We are very, very fortunate that we did not have serious injuries or fatalities here because the place where the roof caved in is a work station and there are typically people working there."
He added, "You know we have emergency preparedness and safety procedures and they worked."
MacDonald said the call came in at 10:06 p.m. and an alert was put out in the plant that people needed to go to the storm center.
"They started rapidly running to the storm center and the roof caved in," he said, "and it caved in at a place where people are typically working."
MacDonald called the damage to the plant "significant" but reiterated it could have been much worse.
Officials said it was actually the security guard who alerted employees to the impending danger before she herself was injured.
"She was on the radio telling the supervisor that we are getting an emergency severe weather warning from Wilson Emergency Management, we need to take cover," MacDonald said.
Bridgestone planned to bring a structural engineer to the facility to asses the damage.
They plan to start rebuilding as soon as possible.
