Firefighters work to extinguish hot spots Friday in a trailer on Suck Creek Road. Janice Atkinson, spokeswoman for the Hamilton County Sheriffs Department, said human remains are believed to have been found inside the trailer. A Friday morning blaze claimed at least one life when a trailer resting on the bank of the Tennessee River burned to the ground.
When firefighters arrived on the scene around 7 a.m., they found the trailer at 2320 Suck Creek Road engulfed in flames, according to Janice Atkinson, spokeswoman for the Hamilton County Sheriff's Office.
"After they knocked the fire down and were able to look inside, they found what appeared to be human remains," Atkinson said.
Detectives with the sheriff's office are investigating the cause of the fire and the resulting death.
The Red Bank Fire Department was the first to arrive, but firefighters from Chattanooga, Walden's Ridge, Dallas Bay and Soddy-Daisy all responded to the fire, according to Atkinson.
The area where the trailer was located is just outside the Chattanooga city limits, preventing the Chattanooga Fire Department -- which has a station just over three miles away -- from being the first company to respond.
Instead, the Red Bank Fire Department had to travel from a station twice that distance. Once on scene Red Bank personnel determined that a mutual aid response was needed and called for reinforcement from other departments.
Bruce Garner, spokesman for the Chattanooga Fire Department, said Chattanooga officials previously tried to annex this portion of Suck Creek Road into the city, but the effort failed because not enough people were in favor.
"We provide services to residents of Chattanooga, who pay the taxes that fund city services," Garner said. "Since a majority of the people in that area chose not to become city residents, they rely on volunteer fire departments for fire protection."
Garner said even though the trailer was not located within the city limits, as soon as the station received the call to be a reinforcement it sent Tanker 17 and Quint 17.
Contact staff writer Kendi Anderson at kendi.anderson@timesfreepress.com or at 423-757-6592.