Ringgold police officer Johnny Gass was glad to see his brother the morning of Sept. 25.

Just after 7:30, officer Gass answered a call from dispatch concerning smoke coming from Dolly’s Restaurant, the popular and historical Ringgold diner.

“I was the first one there and saw the smoke,” he said. “I didn’t know if anyone was in there, so I busted out a window in the alley to gain entrance.”

When air hit the flames, the fire jumped across the room and blocked the window he had entered.

According to his brother, Catoosa County Fire-Rescue Chief Chuck Gass, the owner’s husband went by the restaurant and turned on the grill before going to work that morning as a school bus driver. His wife overslept and noticed smoke coming out of the structure when she arrived.

Jimmy Basingame, a regular at the downtown eatery, had already noticed the smoke as he waited for the restaurant to open. He drove to the nearby fire station and Capt. Chance Nelson answered the call along with Chief Gass, who was on his way to work as a pharmacist at Price Ringgold Drugs.

When Chief Gass arrived on the scene, the owner told him that his brother Johnny was inside.

Quickly, Chief Gass and another man forced entry and pulled Officer Gass from the burning, smoke-filled building.

“I could not find a fire extinguisher,” Officer Gass said. “And the fire spread fast once the air hit it.”

A crew was on the scene quickly and had the flames under control in about 15 minutes.

Chief Gass said that heat from the grill ignited the grease vent. The fire gutted the building and caused smoke damage to Northwest Georgia Land Title which is next door.

Capt. Clyde Ingle said damages were in the $15,000 range and there is no suspicion of arson.

Dolly’s daughter, Marlene Scoggins says the family will rebuild.

“If it had happened in the middle of the night, there is a good chance that whole section of buildings could have burned,” Chief Gass said