Nothing but a charred, crumbling frame remained of the old Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity house as the sun rose above the Tennessee Tech University campus Saturday.

The two-story, wood-frame house, located at 158 W. 7th St., had gone up in flames earlier that morning, with firefighters getting the call around 2:24 a.m.

Ironically, fraternity members celebrated a ribbon-cutting for their new house at 10:45 a.m. the same morning at 68 W. 5th St.

As for the old house, it’s a complete loss.

Blair was unable to confirm whether any fraternity members were present around the time of the fire; neither did he have any injuries to report.

He said firefighters were on the scene for several hours, clearing out a little after 7 a.m.

“We had a partial recall due to the nature and size of the fire,” Blair said, noting that all four stations and some off-duty personnel had been called in to contain the blaze. “They were there pretty much all morning.”

No other buildings were damaged in the fire.

“That was one of our concerns,” Blair said. “There was a building close to it. Of course, when you get on the scene of (a fire) of this magnitude and it’s fully involved, you’ve got to look at protecting exposures, and that’s what (our firefighters) did.”

TTU President Phil Oldham said, “We appreciate the quick, effective response from emergency personnel to contain the fire and protect other community and nearby campus property. We will support our students and faculty who lost personal belongings and precious memories.”

Blair said the incident is still under investigation to determine whether arson or another factor is to blame.

“The fire department along with the police department will continue looking at it, investigating it and just go from there,” he said.

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Putnam County has some new ammunition in the fight against underage tobacco use.

Monetary ammunition.

For the next three years, the county is receiving nearly $58,000 annually — its share of a $206 billion settlement being distributed between 46 states over a 25-year period from the country’s four largest tobacco companies through the 1998 Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement.

“It’s been used by different states in different ways, but this year the state of Tennessee has decided to turn this money back into prevention and address health-related problems caused by tobacco at the local level,” said Bill Gibson, executive director of Power of Putnam, one of several local entities putting the funds to use. “Counties were allocated a certain amount of money based on population.”

The Putnam County Health Council is facilitating the annual distributions of $57,989.29 from the Tennessee Department of Health. The funds will address three focus areas — preventing children from beginning to smoke, particularly those in elementary school and those transitioning to middle school; helping women who smoke during pregnancy to quit; and reducing infant and pre-school-aged children exposure to second-hand smoke.

The health council, along with county government and the Putnam County Health Department, will oversee implementation of the plans and monitor compliance and program outcomes.

“Putnam County is fortunate to have local partners who are passionate about the fight against tobacco and who want to improve the overall health and wellness of our citizens,” Lisa Bumbalough, Putnam County Health Department director, said. “When communities band together, great things can happen.”

Gibson explained that Power of Putnam is partnering with Highlands Residential Services to implement one of the three focus areas — that of preventing small children from being exposed to second-hand smoke.

“In particular, we’re focussing on second-hand smoke in multi-unit housing,” he said. “That includes public housing and anything else considered multi-unit like apartment complexes where there’s more than one housing unit under one roof.”

The newly formed Upper Cumberland Anti-Tobacco Coalition will be focusing on helping pregnant women to quit smoking through a program called “Baby and Me Tobacco Free.”

“It’s an effort to educate and give them incentives to stop smoking during their pregnancies,” Gibson said.

Coordinated School Health will be working with elementary and middle school students before the onset of tobacco use, as well as helping women and teen moms stop smoking, through the Michigan Model prevention program. The initiative will be led by students on school climate teams.

Tobacco settlement fund recipients will also partner with medical offices and other community programs and clubs in addressing these plans.

“This gives our community an opportunity to really make a difference and reduce tobacco-related health problems for people in lots of situations,” Gibson said.

The Tobacco Master Settlement Agreement goes back to 1998, when attorney generals of 46 states filed suits against America’s four largest tobacco companies in an attempt to recover tobacco-related health-care costs and fund anti-tobacco advocacy.

The $206 billion settlement was to be awarded to recipients over a 25-year period.