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Woodworker rebuilds business in 10 years since McClung Warehouses fire

Tuesday marks 10 years since the McClung Warehouses fire on Feb. 7, 2007. 

Flames, smoke, and debris filled the Knoxville skyline that day near downtown on Jackson Avenue. 

The buildings sat mostly empty at the time, but Ernie Gross' woodworking business, Ernie Gross Designs, occupied one of the spots that burned.

He recalls receiving a phone call in the middle of the night telling him about the fire, and he rushed to the scene to see the damage. 

"You kind of panic," Gross said. "I saw firemen, lots of trucks, lots of firemen, just running trying to put the fire out." 

Firefighters battled the flames for hours, and Gross thought the fire was contained to the two buildings next to his. Some of his employees went into the building to check on it, but the third floor began to collapse. 

"The windows started popping because at a certain temperature the glass starts fracturing and bursting," Gross said. "We made it out and just sat around and watched it burn." 

His business had been at that location for almost 20 years at the time. He remembers thinking first about his employees' livelihood and the orders he was supposed to deliver that day. 

"That was my livelihood, that business," he said, "but fortunately, it wasn't my life." 

Luckily, Gross said people in the community helped him find a space to continue his work in the year that followed the fire before he built a permanent workshop in Clinton. 

Gross salvaged a few items from the fire, such as a sign for the business and the door that he now displays in his new location. 

He said officials never confirmed exactly what started the fire that day. Ironically, Gross had an appointment scheduled with the fire marshal for Feb. 7 to check out his building. 

Gross still owns the site of his building on Jackson Avenue. He is leasing it to the Tennessee Department of Transportation while the Broadway viaduct is under construction, but he looks forward to further development of the site in the future. 

"I'd like to see it a combination of people living there and doing business," he said, "and I'm sure someone will develop it and make it a wonderful part of Knoxville." 

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