Chattanooga firefighters knock down blaze in vacant Bonny Oaks Drive building

Site formerly housed Walt's, AJ's eateries

Photo by Lyndsey Rogers/Chattanooga Fire Department. Firefighters work the scene of a fire on the 6000 block of Bonny Oaks Drive on Saturday afternoon.
Photo by Lyndsey Rogers/Chattanooga Fire Department. Firefighters work the scene of a fire on the 6000 block of Bonny Oaks Drive on Saturday afternoon.
Firefighters extinguished Saturday a blaze in a building that formerly housed two restaurants on the 6000 block of Bonny Oaks Drive, according to a news release.

The site of Walt's restaurant, and later AJ's, had heavy smoke coming from the front side of the building when the Chattanooga Fire Department arrived after a 4:45 p.m. call reporting the fire.

"Firefighters made an aggressive offensive attack from three sides," reads the fire department's release. "But heavy winds were causing smoke to blow back across Bonny Oaks so everyone pulled back and went to a defensive attack."

The fire was stopped before it could consume the whole building, and an adjacent building remained untouched.

One firefighter suffered a heat-related injury on the scene and was transported to the hospital, the release states.

The vacant structure suffered extensive damage in the fire, which is under investigation.

"Twelve companies responded to the scene," the release states. "Extra companies were brought in to add to manpower due to the heat, so crews could swap out."

Bonny Oaks Drive was shut down for emergency crews late Saturday afternoon and hot spots were being monitored.

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