A fire hose sprays water into a trash compactor that caught fire early Saturday morning at the At Home store on McBrien Road.

A predawn fire in a trash compactor filled a local retail store with smoke, Saturday morning.

According to East Ridge Fire Department officials, firefighters were called to the At Home store at 842 McBrien Rd. at 5:15 a.m. When they arrived, heavy smoke was seen coming from the west side of the approximately 20,000 square-foot building.

Fire Chief Mike Williams said that a fire was burning inside of a trash compactor. Smoke from the fire had backed up inside of the store. Chief Williams said firefighters gained access to the compactor and were able to extinguish the fire in less than 30 minutes. No injuries were reported.

Firefighters used large fans to ventilate the smoke from the building. At about 7:15 a.m., East Ridge officials requested assistance from Catoosa County Fire Department to bring in additional fans to aid in the process of clearing the smoke from the building. Chief Williams said he expected the smoke to be cleared from the building to allow the retailer to open for business later Saturday morning.

Fire officials said that because the building is so large smoke was dispersed throughout the structure and probably did little if any damage to the merchandise inside.

“The fire was probably accidental,” Chief Williams said. “The compactor is sealed and the only access is from inside the building.”

A fireworks store is located on the east side of the building. Officials said the At Home store has a sprinkler system and there was little concern over the potential for a blaze to spread to the adjacent structure.