Firefighters Battle 2-Alarm Apartment Building Fire

More than a dozen people were forced from their homes early Thursday morning when fire broke out in their apartment building.

 

The Chattanooga Fire Department received the alarm at 2:58 a.m. and responded to Rainbow Creek Apartments at 7604 Standifer Gap Road with six fire companies. Seeing a significant amount of fire upon arrival, a second alarm was requested to bring in six additional fire companies.

Chattanooga Police officers assisted the firefighters in making sure the 10-unit apartment building was evacuated. However, on one end of the apartment building, a woman was trapped in her bedroom on the second floor. Firefighter Engineer Pat O'Brien and Senior Firefighter Frederick Brunker raised a ground ladder to the woman's window and helped her down to safety. 

Battalion Chief Carlos Hampton said the firefighters conducted primary and secondary searches and no one was found in the building. One firefighter was transported to a local hospital with an injured ankle and was expected to be treated and released.

It took roughly an hour for the firefighters to get the blaze under control. An estimate on the dollar loss was not available, but there was substantial damage to the building and most of the apartment units in it. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Volunteers with the American Red Cross were called in to provide assistance to the residents displaced by the fire. Chattanooga-Hamilton County Rescue also provided its rehab truck for the firefighters. 

Standifer Gap Road was closed for several hours during the firefighting operation, but it was re-opened shortly after 6 a.m.