CHATTANOOGA, Tenn - Wednesday, January 28,2009 - 5:00 pm - City Of
Chattanooga Firefighters at station 1 on Main Street were surprised by a
young man that ran up to the station and reported his house a couple blocks
away was on fire. Firefighters at station 1 quickly alerted dispatch that
they were responding to a reported structure fire on Mitchell Street. Within
seconds crews arrived on the scene and reported heavy involvement of a two
story residential structure.The
residents that lived in the house were all adults, The two parents were gone
when the fire broke out. The young man that lived there, smelled smoke and
went to investigate. The man spotted the fire in another room and quickly
ran to the fire station for help. Unfortunately, while he was running to the
fire station the fire was quickly growing. Buy the time crews were alerted
the fire had already spread to other areas of the home.
Fire crews battled the fire for nearly an
hour before they could bring it under control. Due to the numerous power
lines and trees on the narrow street, firefighters could not put an elevated
water source in service. However their quick and aggressive attack did keep
the fire in check as well as keeping it from spreading to the two
neighboring houses.
Several hand lines were in services on the
exterior and the interior working to control and extinguish the blaze.
Luckily, firefighter were able to extinguish the fire without causing any
additional damage or injuries. Unfortunately due to the progressed nature of
the blaze when crews arrived the house was totally gutted. The cause of the
fire is still under investigation.
Story and photos by Bill Carson
