Chattanooga officer rescues 4-year-old from apartment fire, family safe

Officer Rogers ran into a burning second-floor apartment on Cranberry Way and brought out 4-year-old Marlowe Blaylock after neighbors warned that people were still inside. Her mother, Rachel Blaylock, followed with 10-year-old Charles, and all three escaped without injury as flames tore through the 500 block of Cranberry Way in Hixson.

The fire broke out about 9:45 p.m. on May 1, 2025, after 911 received multiple reports of flames coming from the apartment building. Body-camera video showed Rogers pushing through smoke and fire and trying to get back inside to make sure no one else was trapped, even though police officers are not trained firefighters. The Chattanooga Police Department said the response fit its duty to serve and protect in a moment when seconds mattered more than protocol.

Neighbor Ebony Cox said she heard screaming, saw the building in flames and watched Rogers kick in the door to reach the child. That split-second decision, carried out before firefighters fully took control of the scene, is what kept the night from becoming a fatal apartment fire. In multi-unit housing, where families live just feet apart and exits can be cut off fast, the difference between survival and loss can be a single doorway or a handful of breaths in heavy smoke.

The City of Chattanooga said firefighters found fire in the second-floor apartment with extension into the attic. Crews knocked down the bulk of the fire by 10:01 p.m. and had it under control by 10:04 p.m. No one was hurt. One parakeet was removed from a unit and returned to its resident, a small sign of how many lives and households are affected when a fire moves through shared housing.

The American Red Cross is assisting four impacted residents, and the family has started a GoFundMe page to help get back on its feet. The cause of the fire remains under investigation. For Chattanooga families, the rescue is a reminder that apartment fires can spread quickly through walls and attic spaces, and that working smoke alarms, clear exits and fast evacuation can mean the difference between a close call and a funeral.