Fire damages cottage

No injuries were reported Thursday in a predawn fire that damaged a northeast Atlanta cottage and shut down a major route into Midtown for most of the morning commute. The fire broke out around 6:30 a.m. in the one-story, wood-frame home in the 1700 block of Monroe Drive at Montgomery Ferry Drive, near Ansley Mall. Atlanta fire Battalion Chief Richard Heard said arriving firefighters found a “heavy volume of fire” on one side of the structure. He said the small house was vacant and under renovation. “They were doing some touch-up work to make it more habitable,” Heard said. Joe Harrison, the owner of the property, said the cottage, which is behind a larger home on the lot, was built in 1948.