Thirty-five years ago, officials and residents of East Ridge were attempting to determine who was behind a series of church fires in the city. The answer would come from a local connection nearly 500 miles away.
Fire No. 1 occurred Aug. 28, 1991, at the Fellowship Baptist Church at 5335 Clemens Road. The Chattanooga Times, then the city’s morning newspaper, reported the next day that the blaze damaged a portion of the Sunday school classrooms and the main auditorium of the brick structure.
“We have no reason to believe it’s arson,” East Ridge arson investigator Bob Davis told the paper. “Firefighters found a window open when they arrived, but as far as anything missing, there doesn’t seem to be.”
Officials wouldn’t have to wait long, however, for reason to rethink that theory.