ERFD Assisting in Battling Wildfire

Crews from the East Ridge Fire Department are assisting other agencies in battling wildfires in northern Hamilton County.

On Thursday, Fire Chief Mike Williams posted on East Ridge Fire & Rescue Facebook page about our city’s personnel’s efforts.

Chief Williams posted: “We are sending new crews to relieve our firefighter’s that were deployed early this morning. We have sent a total of eleven members to assist Walden’s Ridge. Our next deployment could be to assist Mowbray on the other fire. This could happen as early as this evening or tomorrow . Please pray for the safety of our firefighter’s and citizens in these areas of concern.”

Fires have been burning in the northern part of the county in rough terrain for more than a week, including Walden’s Ridge and Flipper Branch. Officials said more than 1,000 acres has been scorched by the blazes.

More than two dozen homes on Little Bend Road were voluntarily evacuated today, officials said.

About Dick Cook

Dick Cook has lived in East Ridge since the Kennedy Administration when his parents bought a house on Marietta Street. Dick graduated from ERHS in 1976 before going on to the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga where he studied Political Science. Dick worked for the Chattanooga Free-Press and the Chattanooga Times Free Press for 22 years. Free-Press Sports Editor Roy Exum plucked him out of production in 1989 and gave him a job as a sports reporter. Dick covered everything from prep sports to the whitewater events on the Ocoee River for the 1996 Olympics. When Chattanooga's two paper's merged, he became the Crime Reporter covering both the Chattanooga Police and Fire Departments. He was among reporters who were honored by the Associated Press for the TFP's coverage of the 2002 fog-shrouded crash on I-75 in Catoosa County, Dick and his wife, Cathy, live on Marlboro Avenue where they are seen frequently chasing around their three grandsons.