No injuries were reported in connection with a towering fire Thursday afternoon at Bare Metals, located at 2912 Market St.
Shane Osborne, general manager at Bare Metals, said some workers were cutting up some metal with a demolition saw, and the resulting sparks started a fire in a large pile of junk cars and other scrap metal.
Mr. Osborne believes the sparks found some leftover gasoline from one of the junk cars. The fire grew very quickly and the workers evacuated the area.
Many old tires, oil-covered car engines and residual gasoline helped feed the flames. A large plume of thick, black smoke filled the skies and could be seen from miles away.
Chattanooga firefighters received the alarm at 3:40 p.m. and responded with six fire companies. They used hand-held hoselines and some master streams from quint aerials to eventually get the blaze under control. The firefighters also placed containment booms around the site to help control the runoff. No structures were involved in the fire and no injuries were reported.
Bare Metals is a metal recycling company, which has seven employees.