Mayor Madeline Rogero held a press conference this afternoon on the mulch fire at Shamrock Organics.

Here is a summary of her comments:

"I want to report to the community that our firefighters have been on the scene of the mulch fire for the past 52 hours. I want to thank them for their dedication, and I also want to recognize and thank the many agencies that are working with us to put out the fire. Citizens should be pleased to know that we have had a unified effort among local and state agencies.

We are focused first on public safety and the safety of our firefighters. Our priority right now is to extinguish this fire, to protect the health of our community and our local air quality.

Once the fire is out, we will conduct a full review of what happened, how it happened, and what we need to do to make sure it does not happen again."

Agencies and personnel contributing to the effort:

Knoxville-Knox County Emergency Management Agency: overall response coordination and mobile command vehicle Knox County Health Department: air quality monitoring and public health alerts Knoxville Metropolitan Airport Authority: two crash trucks and up to 12 staff members on site Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation: water pollution control Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency: assessing wildlife impact of water run-off Tennessee Emergency Management Agency: response coordination 45th Civil Support Team (based in Smyrna): air and water monitoring Red Cross: shelter and food on site Knox County Sheriff's Office: aerial survey of site Knox County Mayor's Office: response coordination Shamrock Organics employees: assisted firefighters on site Rural Metro EMS: on standby throughout the incident CSX Railroad and G&O Railroad: coordination of local rail traffic Knoxville Police Department: security on site Knoxville Public Service Department: coordination and information Knoxville Engineering Department: water quality monitoring