Through Friday morning, Clayton County firefighters battled a two-alarm blaze that damaged a couple of businesses near Southlake Mall.
The fire broke out around 8 p.m. Thursday in a commercial strip center at 1291 Mt. Zion Road, a fire department spokesman told Channel 2 Action News. The last flames were extinguished by 11 a.m. Friday.
An Enterprise Rent-A-Car office and a TitleMax were damaged, but no injuries were reported. Authorities do not yet have an estimate for damages.
Clayton County fire spokesman David Vazquez told Channel 2 that the fire was initially reported by a passerby, and flames were coming through the roof and side of the building when firefighters arrived and “immediately called a second alarm to get more crews here.”
Vazquez said the fire apparently started in a large warehouse at the back of the businesses that is owned by TitleMax.
The warehouse was filled with motorcycles, furniture, documents and other items pawned by TitleMax customers.
“According to a representative from TitleMax, anything you can think of is inside of that building,” Vazquez said.
He said the fire damage was contained to the warehouse portion of the building, with the TitleMax and Enterprise offices sustaining smoke and water damage.
Firefighters were forced to battle the flames from outside the building after the roof of the warehouse partially collapsed, according to Vazquez.
“It poses a risk to our firefighters of collapsing on top of our personnel,” he said.
Vazquez said both businesses were closed when the fire broke out, and the cause of the blaze is still under investigation.
— Staff writer Tyler Estep contributed to this report.
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