Atlanta's firefighters faced flames yet again at the historic Gaines Hall, marking the second time this year the blaze has scorched the storied structure. The hall, nestled in the 600 block of Martin Luther King Jr. Drive has suffered at least two previous calls in the past decade. Built in 1869, this building was the first permanent structure on the campus of Morris Brown College and has, in recent years, served as a makeshift refuge for the city's homeless.
Amidst the battle with the fire yesterday, firefighters, as described in a report from FOX5 Atlanta, discovered only a minor pile of trash alight, raising concerns about the cause of the fire, which remains under investigation. The building, which came into the possession of Clark Atlanta University after a court ruling in 2017, had been deemed one of the Georgia Trust for Historic Preservation's 2017 Places in Peril.
Battling the fire, Atlanta's firefighting crew responded earlier today following a call regarding a fire at the former Morris Brown College dormitory. Established as Atlanta University's inaugural building post-Civil War, Gaines Hall has now faced the fury of fire on several harrowing occasions. A fire in 2015 had already compromised its stability, leading fire investigators to call for the building's demolition—a fate historic preservationists delayed.
The efforts today were stymied by structural concerns, which prevented an interior attack on the flames. "Because firefighters weren’t able to make an interior attack, it was able to spread," according to The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. This latest conflagration caused additional collapse within the historic edifice, including the roof and partial wall collapses. As Gaines Hall faces this newest scar, the future of this nearly 155-year-old building hangs in balance, its aged bones weakened by the relentless, consuming power of fire.
Despite the deployment of multiple engines and fire trucks and a seemingly adequate water supply from nearby hydrants, the venerable Gaines Hall may succumb to this latest ordeal. Battalion Chief Derek Hullender, conveying the gravity of the destruction, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, "Probably at this point they’re not going to be able to do anything else with it." The fire's smoldering aftermath leaves Clark Atlanta University to deliberate the fate of what was once a monument to educational legacy and community shelter, now a charred relic of Atlanta's past.
