OAN Staff Blake Wolf
4:10 PM – Friday, October 10, 2025
19 individuals are feared dead following a large explosion at a Tennessee explosives manufacturing facility, according to authorities.
The explosion occurred in Hickman County, in the Bucksnort area of Tennessee, at the Accurate Energetic Systems facility — which supplies the U.S. military.
During a press conference, Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis revealed that “multiple” people were dead as a result, without providing a specific number.
“We do have some folks, we can confirm that we do have some that are deceased,” Davis stated at a press conference while referring to the missing individuals as “souls,” implying that they may also be dead.
“This is not going to be something that we’re going to be like a car wreck or something like that – that we’re just going to clean up the debris and leave. We’re going to probably be here for a few days,” he continued. “We’re trying to take as much time as is needed right now. We’re prioritizing people that are involved, their families and trying to be very compassionate toward them.”
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Davis described the explosion as one of the most devastating scenes he has ever witnessed, stating, “There’s nothing to describe. It’s gone.” Footage of the facility revealed the total obliteration of the building, as only debris and burnt vehicles lay silent in its wake.
“It’s probably been one of the most devastating situations that I’ve been on in my career,” he added. “I always with for the best. Is there a possibility that somebody might be injured somewhere, or somebody that we don’t know about? Yes.”
The cause of the explosion remains under investigation, although the explosives manufacturing company is cooperating with authorities “in every way possible,” according to Davis.
According to the company’s website, it “is dedicated to the development, manufacture, handling, and storage of high-quality energetic products utilized in both defense and commercial markets.”
Accurate Energetic Systems (AES) previously had contracts with the Department of War and the Department of Homeland Security.
Local resident Gentry Stover told The Associated Press that the blast woke him up, prompting him to believe that his house “had collapsed with me inside of it.”
“I live very close to Accurate, and I realized about 30 seconds after I woke up that it had to have been that,” he added.
“It felt like our house had some kind of explosion,” McEwen resident Lauren Roark, who lives several miles away from the plant, also told ABC News. “I jumped out of bed, asked my husband, ‘What was that?’”
Roark added that she found what she believes to be debris in her yard from the explosion, describing it as “big chunks of insulation-looking stuff.”
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), the Department of Homeland Security and the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation have all since responded to the scene.
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