An adult male told firefighters he sat on a couch and lit his cigarette before standing up and moving around the house.
He said when he came back in the room he found smoke coming from the couch, and as he lifted a couch cushion it burst into flames, said Bruce Garner, spokesman for the Chattanooga Fire Department.
The man and another adult attempted to put the fire out with water from the kitchen, but that did not stop the flames. The two then tried to shove the couch out of the front door, but it did not fit, according to Garner.
When firefighters arrived to the house, located at 410 N. Hawthorne Street, around 5:30 p.m., they were able to contain the fire to the one room where the couch was and the porch, Garner said.
Captain Dean Rogers, the incident commander, said there were two adults and one child inside the house when the fire began and all made it out safely through a window.