By Chloé Morrison
Chattanooga Times Free Press (Tennessee)
Copyright 2006 Chattanooga Publishing Company
When James Fisher, Gary Brackett and Harrell Murray saw a house in flames as they were having lunch at J Jo’s Diner on Wednesday, they sprang into action.
The trio dashed across the street to a house at 2480 Cloud Springs Road, and now they are being called heroes around Jo Jo’s, where they are regulars.
“I went over there and kicked the door down,” Mr. Fisher said. “Two boys were asleep and (we) told them they needed to get out.”
Mr. Murray is a volunteer firefighter with the Fort Oglethorpe Fire Department. He said he ran out so quickly he forgot to pay his tab, but the restaurant owners forgave him — and he settled his bill the next day.
While the men were modest about their roles in helping the boys inside the burning house, some say the men likely saved lives.
Mr. Fisher said he wasn’t scared when running into the house. “You do what you’ve got to do,” he said. “You’ve got to make sure there ain’t nobody in there.”
The teenage boys didn’t even have time to get their shoes before they fled the house, Mr. Fisher said.
Others said they escaped just in time.
"(The boys) would have been killed,” said Carolyn Long, whose daughter owns Jo Jo’s.
Mr. Fisher said, “I don’t think about that, because everything worked out just right.”
The rescuers said it appeared the fire may have started in the back of the house in a greenhouse, but Glen Davis of the Fort Oglethorpe Fire Department said the cause was not apparent. If the home owner wants to determine a cause, an independent investigation would be needed, he said.
After an effort to contact the home owner, it was reported they did not want to comment.
When firefighters arrived, the greenhouse was gutted and fire had spread into the attic and burned through the roof, Mr. Davis said. Firefighters took 20 minutes to get the fire under control, but were on the scene about four hours, Mr. Davis said.
He said the boys were unharmed but were shaken up.
“I talked to them,” he said. “They were physically fine, but not mentally because that was their house.”