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Worker
started fire with soldering iron
By Randall Rigsbee
A
construction worker using a soldering iron to repair a gutter
accidentally sparked the fire that d
e
investigation determined the fire began in the building’s soffit
area.
"The State
Bureau of Investigation will release an official report within the
next few weeks," Bender said, "but we have reached a finding. A
thorough investigation of the evidence led us to a conclusion fairly
quickly. It is common for
A
construction worker using a soldering iron to repair a gutter
accidentally sparked the fire that devastated the Chatham County
Courthouse in Pittsboro, county Fire Marshal Thomas Bender said
Tuesday.
The Fire
Marshall’s Office, with the assistance of the State Bureau of
Investigation, has been investigating the cause of last Thursday’s
fire, which destroyed much of the historic courthouse.
Bender said
that the investigation determined the fire began in the building’s
soffit area.
"The State
Bureau of Investigation will release an official report within the
next few weeks," Bender said, "but we have reached a finding. A
thorough investigation of the evidence led us to a conclusion fairly
quickly. It is common for
"All of us
at Progressive Contracting Company are deeply saddened by the damage
to the historic Chatham County Courthouse," company vice president
Todd Snyder said.
"We share
the concern of the community and understand the impact in and around
the town of Pittsboro," said Snyder. "We continue to offer our
assistance and resources in all efforts required to save this
historic landmark. Progressive Contracting values the importance of
historic buildings
evastated
the Chatham County Courthouse in Pittsboro, county Fire Marshal
Thomas Bender said Tuesday.
more- See Thursday,
April 1, 2010
edition
Pittsboro officials call emergency meeting after
fire
By Bill Willcox
The
Pittsboro Town Board met in emergency session at 9 a.m. Friday
morning to discuss possible follow-up actions in the wake of the
burning of the courthouse.
All the
commissioners were in attendance except Hugh Harrington.
In the end,
the board took only one action: to endorse a motion that "the Town
Board and Mayor of Pittsboro join with all of the citizens of
Chatham County in wanting to assess the damage to the County
Courthouse and endorse the restoration of the building and the
revitalization of the downtown and to cooperate with Chatham County
and other entities to accomplish these goals."
more- See Thursday,
April 1,
2010
edition |
Jeff Davis photo
Historical courthouse burns .
. .
As black smoke billows out
of the Chatham County courthouse, firefighters spray water from two
ladder trucks that were bought in to help fight the blaze. Around 10
fire departments fought the fire, which started late Thursday
afternoon around 4:30pm. The bell tower collapsed into the center of
the structure around 1:30am Friday morning. The photo above was
taken from the Chatham County Governmental Complex across the street
from the old courthouse.
Structure may be salvaged
By Randall Rigsbee
A key
question in the wake of last week’s courthouse fire is: Will the
iconic building be rebuilt?
The initial
prognosis is positive for saving the still-standing exterior walls
of the burned Chatham County Courthouse and salvaging them for
re-use.
On Monday,
structural engineers evaluated the structure’s, finding that the
exterior walls appear to be salvageable, Chatham County Manager
Charlie Horne said Monday.
"Considering
everything," said Horne, "it looks pretty good on the inside."
Still, a lot
of debris from the east end of the building must be removed before a
proper analysis can be made, the county manager said.
Once the
debris is removed, the engineers can get a better idea of the amount
of damage the structure undertook during the fire.
more- See Thursday,
April 1, 2010
edition
Court operations to resume
The Chatham
County District Attorney’s Office remains operational in spite of
last Thursday’s fire at the historic Chatham County Courthouse in
Pittsboro and Superior Court Judge Allen Baddour says Superior Court
in Chatham County will continue to be held for criminal and civil
proceedings.
Phone calls
to the Chatham County District Attorney’s Office are being routed to
the Hillsborough office.
The District
Attorney’s staff has been divided between the offices in
Hillsborough and Pittsboro. The District Attorney’s Office is
currently operating from the Chatham County Courthouse Annex.
The North
Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts, The North Carolina
Conference of District Attorneys and Chatham County Clerk of Court,
Sam Cooper, and his staff are providing operational support.
The District
Attorney’s Office will operate from the Courthouse Annex until other
workspace can be located.
District
Court and traffic court has not been affected by the fire. District
Court and traffic court will continue to operate as usual. The
Superior Court session scheduled to begin Monday, March 29th, was
tentatively scheduled to be in session on Wednesday, March 31st in
the District Courtroom inside the Courthouse Annex.
The meeting of the Chatham
County Grand Jury set for Monday, March 29th was canceled. Jurors
summoned for this week have been excused.
more- See Thursday,
April 1, 2010
edition
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