MONTGOMERY, W.Va. — The Mayor of Montgomery said the loss of three buildings in the town was a disaster, but the town may emerge in better shape. Fire tore through the old buildings late Sunday night, all of which were more than 100 years old.
“They have common walls and probably common rafters and ceiling,” said Mayor James Higgins. “Once it started, it didn’t take long to spread to the second building, but they did managed to keep it from spreading to the third building.”
Two of the three buildings were knocked down as fire crews mopped up hot spots. Engineers feared the walls of the old structures posed a danger after the fire and needed to come down. Higgins said they’ll ask the owner of the third building to likely raze the structure as well.
“It’s not being used and hasn’t been used for years,” said the Mayor. “Clear that half of the block completely and it would be available for business or anything else they would want to replace it with on their property.”
Higgins said none of the buildings housed any businesses in town, but the upstairs of the first building was a set of apartments. Those who lived there lost everything they had.
“One of the fellows got out and all he had was a pair of shorts he had on,” Higgins said. “Another one had just recently got a car and it was damaged in the fire because the keys were up in his apartment.”
Higgins said the loss of those personal items was the tragedy of the blaze, but the city will be able to move on and possibly now have land to create new development.
A cause for the fire is not known, and Higgins said because of the level of damage may not ever be known.