Marta Mastropasqua woke to a Gallatin explosion on Coles Ferry Road and saw flames from the camper behind Animal Rescue Corps. She called 911 after a loud blast shook the camper and embers began falling near the shelter.
Fire Chief Jeff Beaman said crews reached the scene within three minutes of being dispatched and had the fire under control in 15 minutes. The garage was destroyed, and Mastropasqua used a garden hose to spray the shelter roof while embers landed on the building and ground.
Animal Rescue Corps and Coles Ferry Road
Mastropasqua said, "There was a loud explosion. The whole camper shook. And I jumped out of bed, saying, 'What just exploded?' And I saw an orange glow out the window. So then I proceeded to look out the window, and I saw the flames and called 911," describing the start of the fire from behind the shelter.
She said, "I came out, and I grabbed the garden hose because there was giant embers falling on the roof and all over the ground. And I started spraying the shelter roof to make sure that none of those embers would ignite," while the garage burned nearby.
Jeff Beaman on explosions
Beaman said, "So there's been some talk about explosions and yes there were a few explosions while we were there. We did look into it. It lines up with things that people normally store in their garage and sometimes when they're exposed to fire they go boom," tying the blasts to items commonly kept in a garage.
Ramon Garcia, who was inside his home across the street, said, "I was inside the room when… boom! I went outside and saw the fire," adding another account of the loud blast reported when the fire started.
After the fire in Gallatin
Beaman said investigators would need a couple of days to have a better idea of what started the fire. Mastropasqua said, "It just felt surreal. I was like, 'What is going on?' There was definitely that moment of panic as soon as I woke up," and later added that "the dogs at the shelter now bark a little louder than normal."
A GoFundMe account has been created to help the owners of the garage that caught fire, while the remaining open question is what started the blaze and the reported explosions that followed.
