Harris Lane Blaze Reported By Off-Duty Firefighter

An off-duty Chattanooga firefighter took action Monday morning when he spotted a fire in Lookout Valley. Senior Firefighter Mark Coffman was returning home from a 24-hour shift when he saw smoke coming from the area of a residence on Harris Lane. He was concerned and went to investigate further and that’s when he saw that the family’s detached garage was burning only a few feet away from their house. He knocked on the door to alert the residents so they could evacuate and called 911. Green Shift companies responded at 7:20 AM and found a fully involved garage fire with structural endangerment to the nearby home. Squad 20 initiated a defensive attack as Quint 3 established a water supply. A second handline was deployed as the defensive attack continued. The fire also spread to nearby vegetation including trees, grass and brush so crews tackled that as well. Firefighters remained on the scene working to fully extinguish the fire by targeting hot spots and removing smoldering contents from the garage. There were no injuries. The fire appears to be accidental in nature. This was a taxing response for firefighters as the scene sat back off the road at the top of a hill with narrow, dirt driveway, making it difficult to get additional fire trucks and equipment to the location but crews navigated those obstacles and kept flames from spreading to the nearby house. Quint 1, Ladder 1, Squad 1, Squad 20, Quint 3, Medic 10, Battalion 1, CPD and EPB were on the scene.

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