On Wednesday, October 27, 2004 at approximately 8:40 pm Catoosa County, Georgia Firefighters and East Ridge, Tennessee Firefighters were dispatched with several engine companies to a reported structure fire at 525 Prater Road near the Tennessee - Georgia state Line.
When Catoosa County Engine 10 arrived on the scene they found a work shop, behind a residential home, heavily involved in flames. Firefighters immediately started an interior attack with two inch and three quarter hand lines. Within moments a secondary explosion, that was possibly caused by a Freon tank or some paint cans, ignited a larger portion of the southeast corner of the building.
Firefighters continued their vigilant attack on the blaze and were able to bring it under control in about thirty minutes, unfortunately the building and all of it's contents were completely destroyed by the smoke and intense heat.
The owner of the building was at his home about 40 feet away from the building when the blaze broke out. He said his neighbor was the one who first called 9-1-1 and alerted him to the fire. He also said he did have enough time to get his computer out of the building before it was heavily involved.
Luckily there were no injuries reported by the home owner or the fire department. The cause of the fire is still under investigation. The building that was used as a work shop and as an office for a prepaid phone business, is a total loss.
