Fire Damages Unit of New Castle Apartments

Fire damaged an apartment unit at the New Castle Apartments, Monday afternoon.

According to the East Ridge Fire Department, firefighters were called to the apartments at 5700 Roper Street, at about 4 p.m. Fire Chief Mike Williams said that firefighters were able to contain the fire to one unit.

No injuries were reported in the blaze. However, Chief Williams said a pet was pulled from the apartment and emergency personnel immediately started CPR on the animal. Chief Williams said efforts were unsuccessful to revive the pet.

Chief Williams said a preliminary investigation points to the cause of the fire as being accidental.

East Ridge News Online will update this story when more information is available.

_ Photo contributed by East Ridge Fire Department

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.