Historic Floyd County courthouse destroyed in afternoon fire

Caption

The Floyd County Historic Courthouse caught fire sometime around 2 p.m. on Monday afternoon.

Credit: Roger Thomas

In Northwest Georgia, firefighters battled a major fire at the historic Floyd County courthouse in Rome on Monday afternoon.

Live video from the scene showed the 1892 structure engulfed in flames and smoke billowing from it.

No one was injured in the swift-moving blaze and fire officials are still investigating what might have led to it.
 

Roger Thomas, a communications student at Berry College in Rome, told GPB that he first noticed the fire around 2 p.m.

He counted several fire engines responding to the scene.

The Floyd County Tax Commissioner and Tag Office lists that address, 4 Government Plaza, as their offices.

The building was currently under renovation. 

A listing on a Floyd County website indicated that workers had been working on brick and gutters on March 10.

Former county chairman Wright Bagby said the county now will have find a place to move county functions housed in the building — namely, the tax commissioner's, tax assessor's and motor vehicle tag offices — and whether anything is salvageable.

"I'm not sure that's possible right now but you don't want to lose your history," Bagby said. "And that's a strong part of our history."

He called the landmark's loss a tragedy for the community.

A county spokesman said its bell tower and most everything not made of brick is a total loss.

Floyd County commissioners will meet Tuesday night.