Chattanooga firefighters head off apartment building fire

March 29--A malfunctioning rice grinder caused a third kitchen fire within 24 hours in Chattanooga.

The fire broke out in an apartment on the 1100 block of Mountain Creek Road Thursday evening. No one was injured, and Chattanooga firefighters were able to extinguish the fire in under 10 minutes, 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.

Just hours before, another kitchen fire broke out at 6:27 a.m. on the 6900 block of Jesse Conner Road.

A firefighter suffered an injury after a part of the ceiling fell on him. He was taken to a local hospital and then released. No one else was injured, but three people have been displaced.

When firefighters arrived, they reported seeing smoke coming from one end of the one-story house. The fire had started in the kitchen and then spread to up into the attic.

The cause of the fire has been ruled accidental after food was left unattended on the stove.

A resident told firefighters that he was cooking breakfast and left the kitchen. When he returned, the stove was on fire. He said he tried to put the fire out with a portable fire extinguisher, but was unsuccessful, so he got out and called 911.

The dollar loss in that fire was estimated at $60,000.

And on Wednesday night, a kitchen fire broke out in a home on the 2100 block of Milne Street, displacing one person.

Firefighters were able to extinguish the flames within minutes after arriving, but the estimated property damage is $10,000.

The cause of that fire has also been ruled accidental, also after food was left unattended on the stove.

The leading cause of fires in the kitchen is unattended cooking, the Chattanooga Fire Department posted to its Facebook page.

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