Shortly after 5:30 pm the Lawrence County Dispatch began receiving 911 calls of a large fire in the area of Lawrence 212 and Hwy 63 behind the Stallings Brothers Sawmill.
 
A Lawrence County Deputy in the area stopped an checked the fire which was described as a large pile of tires and a wood slab pile. The deputy advised dispatch that it was not a controlled burn and requested the Black Rock Fire Volunteer Fire Department to respond. The owners were contacted and stated they were not burning anything and had no idea what had started the fire. Black Rock Fire was paged and responded with several trucks, the large smoke plume could be seen as far away as Walnut Ridge.
 
Arkansas Forestry was contacted at 5:45 pm as the fire moved into the woods behind the piles. Firefighters protected several out buildings as the blaze continued to burn. Forestry’s intention was to plow a line around the fire and let it burn itself out. Firefighters also were warned of dynamite that was stored at the quarry next to the property containing the fire.