Associated Press
LITHONIA, Ga. — Firefighters near Atlanta were battling a fierce fire Thursday morning at a warehouse in metro Atlanta that shot flames into the pre-dawn sky and shut down a highway as firefighters worked to get the blaze under control.
The blaze broke out before dawn in the Lithonia area of DeKalb County, just northeast of Atlanta, fire officials said. No injuries have been reported.
Video from WSB-TV showed flames stretching from one end of the massive building to another, with smoke pouring over the industrial area.
The roof of the warehouse has collapsed, making it too dangerous for firefighters to go inside, DeKalb County Fire Rescue Capt. Eric Jackson told reporters at the scene.
“Right now, we see no advantage in putting our firefighters directly in harm’s way to fight this fire because it has experienced roof collapse throughout the entire building,” Jackson said.
.@mckayWSB is the only reporter live over this huge 4 alarm fire in DeKalb Co. Lithonia Ind. Blvd. is closed south of Covington Hwy. pic.twitter.com/36uSRmEunW
— Mark Arum (@MarkArum) September 29, 2016
Firefighters were using long aerial ladders to dump “copious amounts” of water onto the blaze from above, Jackson said.
The blaze was less than 1,000 feet from one of the department’s fire stations, so when the call came in firefighters “literally looked out the back door and saw this business on fire.” They arrived in less than a minute, he said.
No one was believed to have been inside the building when firefighters arrived, he said.
Lithonia Industrial Boulevard was shut down at the start of the Thursday morning rush hour as firefighters continued to battle the blaze, Jackson said.
7:15am #BREAKINGNEWS #ATLtraffic DeKalb Co: Sunrise over this structure fire Lithonia Ind Blvd at Covington Hwy. @wsbradio SkyCopter @wsbtv pic.twitter.com/8mlR1BuACU
— Mark McKay (@mckayWSB) September 29, 2016