Chattanooga firefighters put out a house fire at a home in the 2200 block of Rawlings Street around 12:30 p.m. Wednesday. A man who lived in the home said no one was hurt during the blaze.Two house fires broke out at the same time in Chattanooga on Wednesday afternoon, according to the Chattanooga Fire Department.
Both fires were reported at about 12:30 p.m. - one at 2201 Rawlings Street, and another at 8143 East Brainerd Road.
Two boys were playing with matches in a carport next to the home on Brainerd Road when they started a fire that they couldn't put out. The boys alerted their grandmother, who tried unsuccessfully to extinguish the blaze with a pan of water.
She and the boys then got away from the house, while someone in a nearby business saw the smoke and called 911, according to fire department spokesman Bruce Garner.
"By the time the firefighters were notified and responded to the scene, most of the damage had already been done," he said in a release.
About 24 firefighters spent 20 minutes fighting the fire, Garner said.
The firefighters struggled to put out the blaze because the house had several layers of roofing and several rooms that had been added on, Battalion Chief rick Boatwright said. As many as six people were displaced, Garner said.
Across town on Rawlings Street, man who lived in the home told firefighters that he smelled incense shortly before he heard a smoke alarm in the home. When he went to investigate, he discovered that the entire bedroom was in flames.
He got out of the home safely and no one was hurt, although the fire did significant damage to the home and displaced two adults and two children. It took firefighters about 20 minutes to get that fire under control.
Contact staff writer Shelly Bradbury at 423-757-6525or sbradbury@timesfreepress.com. Follow @ShellyBradbury.