Chattanooga man escapes early morning fire

CHATTANOOGA, Tennessee(WDEF) – A Chattanooga man is lucky to be alive after an early morning fire ripped through his home.

It happened shortly before 4:30 in the 2600 block of Glass Street.

Roy Harden, 65, of Chattanooga told WDEF he woke up to the sound of breaking glass then discovered his home was on fire.

Harden was too upset to give more information but told WDEF he called his girlfriend Jeanette Galliam and told her," the house caught on fire."

Galliam gave WDEF a statement about what happened according to Harden.

"He called me and said his house is on fire and I took off called 911," she said.

When fire crews arrived, the home was fully engulfed in flames. WDEF asked how Harden was able to escape the blaze.

"He had jumped up and ran out the back door. He couldn’t exit through the front because the front porch was on fire and the smoke was getting to him so he had to go out the back door," she said.

Galliam lives several block away from Harden and said when she received the phone call from him, she was fearing the worst.

"I panicked. I was afraid when he told me. I thought he was still in the house and I was praying for that he wasn’t. Thank god he wasn’t."

By 6 A.M., fire crews were still battling hot spots that continued to reignite. They fought to keep flames from shooting over to the next door neighbors house.

Harden did tell WDEF that he had been renting the home for the past 10 years. The home is now burned to the ground and two parked vehicles in the driveway were destroyed.

The American Red Cross is currently assisting Harden.

Cause of the fire remains under investigation.