Fire Near MLK Tomb

ATLANTA - Quick work by Atlanta firefighters saved a building that caught fire early Wednesday inside the Martin Luther King Jr. National Historic Site.

The blaze was reported around 6 a.m. at a building in the 400 block of Edgewood Avenue, about a half-block from Dr. King's tomb, according to report in The Atlanta Journal.

The building where the fire broke out is owned by the National Park Service and is leased to Leslie’s Barber Shop, which sustained some fire damage as well as extensive water damage.

The building is just down the street from Atlanta Fire Station 4, and crews were on the scene in less than a minute, Battalion Chief Todd Edwards told the AJC.

Edwards said those crews found a “small amount of fire” in the back room of the barbershop.

“They got in and got a real quick knockdown before this fire got out of hand,” Edwards said. “This was only a matter of minutes before it would have gotten to be a really big fire.”

Firefighters evacuated several loft apartments in an adjacent building.

Dave Bruckner, who lives in one of those apartments, said a homeless man who stays in the area first noticed the fire.

“He was really kind, rang the doorbell, woke us up and told us there was a fire,” Bruckner said. “We called and eight fire trucks showed up. It was pretty awesome.”