VIDEO: Floyd County Historic Courthouse in downtown Rome fully engulfed in flames

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) — Crews are battling a large fire at the Floyd County Historic Courthouse in downtown Rome on Monday, according to the city’s police department.

It is unknown at this point what sparked the fire or if there are any injuries. Just last month, the county shared information about exterior renovations underway to address maintenance and functionality.

County manager Jamie McCord said the renovation loss will be covered through the Association of County Commissioners of Georgia.

Officials say employees inside the historic courthouse evacuated safely.

Rome residents said the building has a special meaning for them.

“It means a lot to me. Growing up here back in the 1950s, used to court here, even my kids did. And now people can’t go get their tags, and that’s the basic thing. But I thank God that no one got hurt, and it’s going to be missed unless they can restore it,” said Nancy Anthony, who grew up in Rome

People working nearby also said they had to evacuate.

“What we saw was the tower catching on fire and collapsing. It was a slow process but once it went down it imploded on itself. We pretty much just thought well, lets hope it doesn’t affect us at work today and catch to the next buildings over because we saw the wind just constantly blowing and it was hard for them to put it out,” described Spencer Wills, who works next to the historic courthouse.

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Rome Police are helping evacuate the building and are urging motorists to avoid the area.

The fire chief said the building is a total loss.

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The courthouse, located off W. 5th Avenue, was built in 1892, according to the city. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

It is a red-brick Romanesque Revival building designed by the Atlanta firm Bruce and Morgan.

The old courthouse served as Floyd County’s main court building for decades, and still houses the county tax commissioner and other public offices, where people come to pay for their car tag renewals and property taxes, among other tax business.

The fire at the historic courthouse left 35 employees displaced from their work space, according to county officials. The county said it is trying to relocate them across the street to a nearby building.

McCord said he is confident that most files are digitized, but some records within the last week may be lost. Even so, he is confident staff might have backed up or scanned most new files.

Residents and officials described how the fire is a tragic loss to history.

“Well, it’s a sad day. This is the last thing I anticipated I would be dealing with today. It is our landmark, our county landmark, right here on the river. Again, just a terrible, terrible day. But the good thing is, everybody got out safely,” McCord said.

“It was a gorgeous old building. It’s where you went to pay your property tax or if you needed tags for your car, so I have been in that building a number of times. Beautiful woodwork. It’s just heart breaking, I’m no expert, but doesn’t look like they can save any of it. And it just breaks my heart,” Randy Stafford, who works and lives in Rome, said.

Fire officials said they also worked to save surrounding buildings and vehicles.

“When we realized we had to go into defensive operations, we started looking at exposures, which is vehicles and other structures in the area. We removed all the vehicles and then started protecting the other exposures, as we call them,” Division Chief Jamie Stone said.

“I’m just grateful they got everybody out and nobody was hurt, that’s a real blessing, but your heart aches for all the people that are going to be touched by this, you don’t know how this will affect finances or the businesses around them. And that’s heart wrenching to know so many people are affected, but just the whole town will be touched,” Beverly Stafford, who lives in Rome with her husband, Randy, said.

McCord said he had been in the process of relocating judicial departments and facilities, while moving staff around. They chose not to build a multimillion-dollar courthouse, in the hopes of spending significantly less to spruce up the historic courthouse.

“So we just lost some of our playing cards in that shuffle. And I hate it. I really do. We just did T-shirts this past Christmas for employees, that have our historic courthouse on, so it is our landmark, and it’s a sad day,” McCord said.

The Floyd County courthouse will be closed Tuesday.

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Atlanta News First is working to learn more and has crews en route. Return for updates.