Chattanooga police officers noticed heavy smoke while on patrol and alerted the fire department, who arrived at PSC Metals just after 1 a.m. and found a large pile of scrap metal and other materials on fire inside the metal building.
The firefighters attempted to extinguish the fire with deck guns on the fire trucks and hand-held hoses, but the water wasn't penetrating the pile enough to be effective.
Firefighters then used a front end loader to move the burning pile out of the building until an employee with the company took over the operation.
Portions of the pile were moved and firefighters wet down the materials and extinguished the fire, eventually. It took 24 firefighters from six different fire companies more than an hour to get the fire under control.
Firefighters limited the damage to the $6 million building to $2,500. No injuries were reported and the cause of the fire is under investigation.