Hamilton County, TN - Friday, April 21,2006 - 7:15 am - The Highway 58 Volunteer Fire Department was dispatched to the 10500 block of Highway 58, near Dolly Pond Road, to a working structure fire.
The first unit to arrive on the scene was a medic unit. They immediately confirmed a fully involved structure fire. Several Highway 58 fire engines arrived on the scene within moments. Firefighters quickly started an initial attack, but was slowed down by line power lines that were down in the front of the structure.
Highway 58 firefighters worked feverously to extinguish the blaze, but unfortunately the fire had already caused substantial damage to the structure. A crew with the local power company arrived in short order and cut the power off to the wires. Firefighters were then able to get to the entire structure and extinguish the hot spots. It took almost an hour and a half to put the fire out.
The structure was the old Bill Gross General Merchandise Store, built in 1941. The owner said that the building had been struck by lightning, causing the blaze. The store was not in operation and nobody was inside at the time of the fire. The building was totally destroyed by the fire.
No injuries were reported.
