Fire damages Arby's restaurant in south Nashville

WKRN News Channel 2

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - An Arby's restaurant in south Nashville was nearly destroyed by fire early Monday morning.

Crews were called to the restaurant, located at 1212 Murfreesboro Pike, near Briley Parkway, around 3 a.m.

They arrived to the scene to find a lot of smoke and flames coming out of the roof. Murfreesboro Road was shut down for about two hours as firefighters battled the blaze. Firefighters busted out windows to get inside the restaurant and make sure no one was inside. They tried to fight the fire from the inside but had to pull the firefighters out because conditions became too hot and too dangerous, according to fire officials.

"We had to actually bring firefighters out one time," said Lee Bergeron, assistant fire chief of the Nashville Fire Department. "We thought the building might collapse."

He said the design of the building didn't help in the situation.

"This type of building really is sort of known as a firefighter killer because of the nature of the construction. You have heavy fire loading at the rear of the building, and then you have a void where the patrons actually dine."

Officials said the building suffered significant damage, but it is not a total loss.

They said they did their best to save the building, in light of the damage last month's tornado caused to other businesses in that area, such as the McDonald's restaurant across the street. Officials said that because of the status of the economy and the importance of jobs, "it was worth some risk" to save the building.

It is believed the fire started in the back of the building.

No one was injured in the fire.

The cause of the fire is under investigation but officials said it is not suspicious.