Officials say a firefighter was critically injured Saturday during a fire in an Mt. Juliet apartment building.
Around 12:30 p.m., Mt. Juliet firefighters found fire in the attic of a building at the Grass Creek Apartments and began evacuating residents who were unaware of the fire burning above them, along with police.
The roof of the three-story building collapsed onto three firefighters as they were getting residents to safety, WKRN.
“Officers and firefighters were working to save people’s lives, to ensure everyone was out of there, and they put themselves in situations that cause them their own harm, right? They run to the harm when everyone is running away,” Mt. Juliet Police Capt. Tyler Chandler told the television station.
With the firefighter suffering serious injuries, the decision was made to transport him to the in the back of a police car to Summit ER. He was later transported to Skyline Medical Center.
Crews were initially called to Building 1200 and later found the fire burning in Building 400.
City spokesman Justin Beasley said investigators believe the fire was caused by lightning, but the investigation is ongoing.
The fire damaged 20 units, displacing dozens.
“The smoke cloud, it went across the whole entire highway to like the other end of the highway,” said Dinara Ibragimova told the television station. “It was actually horrible, like the smoke was completely pitch black when we first got here.”
