3/8/2008

No injuries were reported in connection with a duplex fire early this afternoon.  A nine-year-old girl in one of the units said she smelled smoke and when she looked around, saw smoke and flames coming from the attached utility shed.  The girl alerted her mother and both got out of the duplex uninjured.  A woman in the other side of the duplex also escaped unharmed.

The Chattanooga Fire Department received the alarm at 12:13 p.m. and responded to 4224 Victory Street with four fire companies.  Battalion Chief Ben Biggs said the fire was discovered toward the rear of the duplex, and the flames were beginning to get into the attic before the firefighters could get the blaze under control.  The dollar loss was estimated at around $40,000.  The cause of the fire has been ruled accidental.  Captain Lesley Morgan with the Fire Investigation Division said the fire appears to have started in the vicinity of the water heaters in the utility shed.

The fire displaced the woman and her 9-year-old daughter on one side, and a woman and her teenage son on the other side.  Neither family had renter's insurance.  Volunteers with the American Red Cross were called in to provide assistance to the two families.

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