BRIEF: Chattanooga firefighters head off apartment building fire

March 29--A malfunctioning rice grinder caused a kitchen fire in an apartment on the 1100 block of Mountain Creek Road Thursday evening.

Chattanooga firefighters were able to extinguish the fire in under 10 minutes and no one was injured, the department posted to its Facebook page.

Firefighters were called to the Rise at Signal Mountain apartment complex at about 4:30 p.m. They reported light smoke coming from an apartment on the ground floor. None of the other nine apartment units in the building received fire damage.

The damaged apartment was home to two adults and two children. The mother and her infant child were at home when the fire broke out. She told firefighters her rice grinder caught fire and spread to the counter and walls. A fire investigator determined the burn patterns are consistent with what she said.

The cause of the fire will be ruled accidental. An estimated amount in property damage was not available, but the family did have renter's insurance -- a requirement at that apartment complex.

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