Galesburg Firefighters battled an early morning blaze today that caused plenty of damage to the Boys and Girls Club of Knox County on Depot Street.
GFD responded around 2:30 a.m. where heavy smoke and flames burned through a hallway, an office space and up into the attic. Fire Chief Tom Simkins says crews had to cut into the roof to access the blaze, which left a black ring around the building. The fire has been put out but smoldering remains.
No injuries have been reported but the future of that facility is questionable. Simkins tells Galesburg’s Morning News on WGIL the fire is unfortunate because the club has already run into hard times in the past few months.
“They found they had a beam that was cracked inside the building,” Simkins says. “They went in to repair that and they found they had to take part of the roof off to get at it and then of course we had a big rain. Now they’ve had water in the building and they’ve got a company over there trying to de-water the building and dry it out. So, they’re working in there and are also taking out drywall. There’s a lot of repair work going on. They just decided to put a new roof on and were getting ready to do that today. The shingles are sitting up there on top of the roof.”
Simkins says the cause of the fire is unknown at this point. The Boys and Girls Club has used the Carver Center facility for a number of years as a recreation and learning center.
UPDATED 9/7/16 at 6:53 a.m. to reflect additional comments from Galesburg Fire Chief Tom Simkins on Galesburg’s Morning News.
