Chattanooga firefighters worked to get a Hixson house fire under control late Wednesday night in the face of several challenging factors.
Red Shift companies responded to a home in the 5700 block of Hixson Pike (near the intersection with Middle Valley Road) at 10:08 p.m. after multiple people called 911 to report that they could see smoke coming from the residence. Engine 11 was first on the scene and found heavy smoke and fire coming from the front corner of the structure.
A water supply was established and defensive attack was launched with three hose lines in order to knock down some of the flames. A second alarm was called to bring more personnel to the scene.
Crews noticed that the front porch was torn apart and completely gone so they couldn’t enter that way. The back door was blocked due to an extreme amount of contents in the home. Once conditions had improved, firefighters made entry through a front window and transitioned from a defensive to an offensive operation. They conducted a primary search and no one was found inside.
Due to the heat and humidity, companies rotated out as they continued fighting the fire and a secondary search was done with no one found inside the vacant house. Crews remained on the scene hitting hot spots in order to get the fire fully extinguished.
The cause is under investigation. There were no injuries.
Engine 11, Ladder 19, Squad 19, Quint 16, Engine 22, Squad 7, Squad 1, Ladder 7, Quint 10, Quint 6, Quint 8, Battalion 1, Battalion 2, Battalion 3, CFD Supply, CFD Investigations, EPB, CPD and HCEMS responded.