Brookhaven apartment parking garage collapses after vehicle fire

BROOKHAVEN, Ga. - An apartment building's garage has collapsed in Brookhaven just hours after multiple cars caught fire Friday night. 

What we know:

The blaze was reported around 8:30 p.m. in the 1000 block of Barone Avenue at the Hendrix Apartments. When fire officials arrived, they found the fire had already spread to several different cars within the garage.

Capt. Jaeson Daniels said he believes the fire had been burning for some time before firefighters were called, eventually escalating to a two-alarm fire. Fortunately, no injuries were reported.

"This is a unique situation in particular because of the parking deck and how the building is constructed," Daniels said. "If you can imagine, the parking deck kind of sits in the middle of the building. So it presented its own challenges on just getting into the structure safely to extinguish the car fire."

While the fire did not spread to the actual apartment units, the parking deck itself failed later that evening. Daniels said the fire department was notified of the collapse "quite some time" after the flames were extinguished. The department currently believes the intensity of the fire caused the structural failure.

Because of the danger, management has been told to restrict all access to the garage. Residents are currently being kept from retrieving their vehicles as officials fear more of the building could give way. "That parking is highly unstable and may collapse again," Daniels warned.

Dig deeper:

FOX 5 viewer Jennifer Griffiths shared images from the scene showing cars falling through the garage floor, along with several vehicles sporting heavy fire damage.

What's next:

At this time, the cause of the initial fire remains unknown. Daniels noted that it may be a while before investigators can provide answers. 

"Completing the investigation, we're going to have to get structural engineers in to make sure that it's safe for us to actually get in and actually see how the fire started," Daniels said.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates as they become available. If you have any images or video of the scene, you can send them to newstipsatlanta@fox.com.