Firefighter taken to hospital while battling blaze at historic downtown building

ATLANTA — Firefighters say they have put out a 2-alarm fire that broke out at a historic building in downtown Atlanta.

One firefighter was treated for heat exhaustion and taken to the hospital. A civilian was also treated for smoke inhalation, firefighters said.

The fire broke out on the 4th floor the old Southern Railway building on Ted Turner Drive Thursday afternoon.

An estimated 20 people were evacuated from the building, Atlanta fire said earlier.

“One of the biggest challenges that we faced was getting to the fire, making sure everyone was out of the building so we could operate safely and making sure there's no hidden fires or anyone trapped in the building,” Atlanta fire spokesman Sgt. Cortez Stafford told Channel 2 Action News.

Video showed black smoke billowing from the windows.

Channel 2's Aaron Diamant was on the scene where crews were working to put the fire out.

Several streets were shut down including Ted Turner Drive between Mitchell St. and Trinity Ave., Forsyth St. at Nelson St., MLK Dr. at Ted Turner Dr. and Ted Turner Dr. at Trinity Ave.

The building was in the process of being renovated by CIM Group and development partner Stream Realty. They plan to convert it into 246 apartments and reserve about 50,000 square feet for commercial space on the ground floor and viaduct levels of the complex.

Cox Media Group