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Firefighters battle blaze at Southside building housing educational nonprofit [photos, videos]

By Staff Report November 25, 2016 2 min read

Photo Gallery

SWEPCO Fishing

Hot water that flows from the Flint Creek Power Plant during the making of electricity keeps the water warm during winter at SWEPCO Lake. The lake was built as a water source for the coal-fueled plant.

A hook-out tool helps Stroud unhook his fish. When the end of the tool is inserted into the mouth of a fish, an open loop at the end of the tool grips the hook shank. A trigger on handle pulls on the loop so it grips the hook shank tightly. The fish hook is easily removed.

Kenny Stroud of Siloam Springs lands a largemouth bass early on Dec. 3 2013 at SWEPCO Lake. Soft plastics are the No. 1 lure for catching bass at the 500-acre warm-water lake, Stroud said.

Stroud shows one of several largemouth bass caught during a trip to SWEPCO Lake.

Stroud gets around on SWEPCO Lake with an electric outboard motor. It's a 3-horsepower Briggs & Stratton that uses four 12-volt batteries.

Stroud battles one of 40 bass caught during a trip to SWEPCO Lake.

Stroud nets the first largemouth bass caught during the trip.

Stroud lands a bass while fishing across the lake from the power plant.

A SWEPCO Lake largemouth bass puts up a fight.

Stroud uses his hook-out tool to release a fish. He usually releases his catch, but anglers are allowed to keep a daily limit of 10 bass at SWEPCO Lake, but only one may exceed 18 inches.

When the water gets cold at most lakes, bass fishing heats up at SWEPCO Lake, one of the Ozarks' most unique reservoirs. The 500-acre lake, located near Gentry, stays warm all winter thanks to a discharge of hot water from the coal-fueled Flint Creek Power Plant. Bass fishing at Swepco during winter is like fishing elsewhere during spring, said Kenny Stroud of Siloam Springs, an avid Swepco angler. Staff photos by Flip Putthoff

Firefighters battled a 3-alarm fire at a building in Chattanooga’s Southside.

The building is located at 1511-1513 Williams Street near Main Street. The initial call reporting the fire was received by Hamilton County Emergency Services at 5:01 p.m.

Flames poured out of the roof along with heavy smoke. Several blocks of Main Street shut down between Market and Broad streets. It took firefighters at least an hour to control the bulk of the fire, according to a press release from the Chattanooga Fire Department.

A utility worker turned off the power for several blocks surrounding the building during the fire.

An officer said he was unsure but believes the building was unoccupied at the time of the fire. No injuries were reported.

Art120, an educational nonprofit, is one of the largest tenants in the building, the executive director of the nonprofit, Kate Warren, confirmed.

“We may be starting over,” she said.

Both Art120 and a cabinet shop located in the building suffered extensive damage, according to the release.

“All of my artwork is in there. My tools too,” Adam Kirby, one of the artists who works in the building said.

Kirby said five years of work is stored in his studio, but he is glad it seems no one was in the building.

“It’s just stuff.”

It is not known at this time what started the fire, David Tallent with the Chattanooga Fire Department said, but 19 companies responded to the scene.

The building is attached to a smaller building.

The smaller building is an auto body shop, firefighters said, “with everything that comes along with that.”

Firefighters were able to keep the fire from spreading to a construction company in an adjacent building, according to the release.

This fire is not going down. pic.twitter.com/6e5eCZwIqh
— emmett gienapp (@emmettgienapp) November 24, 2016

Flames are now bursting through the roof pic.twitter.com/Ga0b4qCduL
— emmett gienapp (@emmettgienapp) November 24, 2016