A vacant building that once housed a Coleman Taylor Transmissions shop on Union Avenue was fully engulfed in flames by 2:50 p.m. Friday, with a thick black plume of smoke rising over Memphis and visible for miles. The Memphis Fire Department responded to the blaze near South Lauderdale Street as crews worked to bring it under control.
According to Action News 5, the fire broke out at 472 Union Avenue, a property that formerly housed the transmission repair business but has sat vacant since at least 2022. Union Avenue was completely blocked off in the immediate area while firefighters worked to extinguish the flames, snarling traffic in the busy corridor.
Smoke Visible Across the City
The scale of the fire was evident well beyond the immediate block, with the dark smoke plume reportedly visible from miles away, per the outlet's report. The abandoned auto shop's location near South Lauderdale Street put it in a stretch of Union Avenue that sees regular traffic, compounding the disruption as emergency crews moved in.
WREG reported that the initial call for the fire went out around 2:30 p.m., with Action News 5 later confirming the structure was fully engulfed by 2:50 p.m., suggesting the blaze spread quickly in the twenty minutes after crews were first dispatched.
Details on Cause Still Pending
As of Friday afternoon, the Memphis Fire Department had not released additional information about what sparked the fire at the long-vacant property. The station's report noted that more details were pending from the department and said it would update the story as information became available.
