Chattanooga firefighters responded to a fire shortly after 2 p.m. on Thursday at Mountain Creek Apartments. Smoke was billowing out the front door of the two story apartment unit when the first firefighters arrived on the scene.
Battalion Chief James Wilkes said the firefighters were able to contain the fire to the kitchen area, preventing the flames from spreading to other parts of the apartment, and to the other five apartment units in that building. While extinguishing the fire, the firefighters found a dog and a cat in a closet. They carried them outside and they appeared to be uninjured.
Jon Evans, 28, told firefighters that he put some soup on the kitchen stove to heat up, and then went upstairs to check his e-mail. He said he was gone for about a minute when he heard the sound of a smoke alarm. When he got downstairs, he saw a large fire on the stove, but it was already too big to put out, so he left the apartment and called 911.
The apartment was actually rented by his girlfriend, who was not there at the time. No estimate on the dollar loss was available. The cause of the fire is under investigation.