Fire Damages House on Rugby Place

An early morning fire damaged a house on Rugby Place, Wednesday.

According to East Ridge Fire Chief Mike Williams, when firefighters arrived at 1526 Rugby Place there was heavy smoke showing. The blaze was contained to the kitchen, Williams said. There were no injuries reported.

The cause of the fire is under investigation, Chief Williams said.

Another fire was reported on Tombras Avenue early Wednesday morning. Officials said when firefighters arrived they found a small fire at the water heater. Smoke filled the house and there was a small amount of damage reported, 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.