Porch Fire Extinguished by Resident

A fire on the porch of a house down the street from City Hall was extinguished by the resident, early Wednesday morning, officials said.

According to East Ridge Fire Chief Mike Williams, firefighters were called to a reported residential fire at 2016 Tombras Avenue at 3:52 a.m. When they arrived they found that the occupant had extinguished a small fire that was on the porch of the dwelling.

Fire crews conducted salvage and overhaul operations and checked to make sure the fire did not extend into the house.

No injuries were reported, Chief Williams said, and the cause of the fire is under investigation.

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.