A man who was pulled by citizens from his burning apartment at the Rustic Village North Apartments on Tuesday afternoon is in critical condition. His apartment was where the fire originated.
Five others who were taken to the hospital were treated and released with minor injuries.
The cause of the apartment fire on Sunflower Lane is undetermined and remains under Multiple people were injured in an apartment fire Tuesday afternoon, prompting rescues by Chattanooga police officers and firefighters.
It happened at 2:30 p.m.
Quint 6 responded to the scene and reported seeing smoke from Bonny Oaks Drive. When Quint 6 arrived at the apartment complex, smoke and flames were visible from one of the buildings and residents were trapped on balconies.
A second alarm was called to bring additional fire companies to the scene.
Responding Chattanooga police officers and firefighters grabbed ladders to get five people down from balconies.
Good Samaritans pulled the critically injured man out of the burning building from the ground floor.
Six people were transported to the hospital by Hamilton County EMS.
Firefighters then started searching the building as there were reports of possible entrapment. They did not find anyone trapped inside.
They aggressively attacked the fire and performed a vertical ventilation, cutting holes in the roof to let out heat and smoke inside the structure in order to improve firefighting conditions.
Flames were on both floors of the building and the attic. Crews kept battling the fire.
It was deemed under control an hour later at 3:30 p.m.
The cause of the blaze is under investigation.
Several apartments sustained significant damage. Two dogs were also rescued.
Responding units were Squads 7, 13 and 19, Quints 6, 8, 10, 19, Engines 4, 15, Hamilton County EMS, mutual aid filling fire halls for continued coverage, CPD, EPB, and IDU from Hamilton County 911.