A man who escaped a fire with his children and his mother was rescued by firefighters in Alton Park on Saturday morning, according to the Chattanooga Fire Department.
Firefighters were called to the 3700 block of Dorris Street around 5 a.m. and received reports of at least one person trapped inside a duplex. Firefighters entered the residence and found an older, wheelchair-using woman on the floor in the back bedroom. She had activated her medical alert device, notifying 911 that she was still inside her home. The woman was carried outside and treated with oxygen, a Fire Department news release said.
The woman's son and his infant twins escaped the burning home after he broke a window and crawled out with the children. The man took the children to a nearby relative's home and rushed back to the scene to try to save his mother, but after breaking her bedroom window with a brick, he realized there was too much smoke and he could not get to her.
The fire was brought under control within minutes. All four victims suffered smoke inhalation, were treated at the scene and taken to a hospital for observation. The man suffered lacerations to his arms while crawling out of the broken window, according to the release.
According to the news release, the other side of the duplex was vacant and the fire appears to have been an accidental electrical fire.
The home is directly across the street from another home that burned last week and displaced six people. That fire was caused by a malfunctioning dryer, the release said.
— Compiled by Kim Sebring
The scene of a duplex fire is seen in the 3700 block of Dorris Street on Saturday. / Chattanooga Fire Department