A historic Virginia university caught fire early Friday morning as local officials said attempts to save the building “fell on deaf ears.”
The fire broke out around 1 a.m. on the former Virginia Intermont College campus in Bristol, Virginia, on the border of eastern Tennessee and Virginia.
According to reports, the “complete hell” spread to other buildings, with the main hall collapsing just after 2 a.m. News channel 11.
Bristol councilor Neil Osborne, who witnessed the 19th century private school being destroyed by fire overnight, shared images and videos of the fire as emergency services worked to extinguish it.
“What happened here tonight is pure tragedy, plain and simple.” Osborne told X:
Osborn said he has been fighting for years to preserve the historic campus, but efforts have not made much progress.
“Multiple attempts by the city to get the owners to do something have fallen on deaf ears,” Osborne argued. “We fined them, imposed additional taxes, declared the property in disrepair, and even tried to secure the campus for ourselves within legal limits.”
The cause of the fire is unknown.
Last month, the library building was engulfed in smoke. News Channel 11 reported.
Osborne believes the recent fires were caused by “failure by the owners of this campus to properly secure the building.”
The mayor also discussed the challenges with owners ahead of Friday's inferno.
“We're in a bad situation because somebody owns this building and they're paying the taxes,” Bristol Mayor Becky Neve told 8News. “They keep me updated on things other than the property.”
The campus was founded in 1884 and became coeducational in 1972..
The university closed in May 2014 due to financial problems and loss of accreditation, leaving the interior in disrepair and boarded up for more than a decade. According to 8News
The school has reportedly been acquired by US Magis International, a Chinese company based in New York.
There were reportedly plans to turn it into a business college in 2016, but it was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic.
“Please keep the firefighters, citizens of the city, and Virginia Intermont alumni and families in your thoughts and prayers,” Osborn wrote. “This is an incredibly dark day for our city.”
