Fire damages JCJC field house

By Staff
special to The Star
April 12, 2002
ELLISVILLE n Firefighters from 14 departments responded to a three-alarm blaze that heavily damaged the Jones County Junior College football field house and athletic training building here Thursday.
Officials said a grounds crew employee noticed smoke about 6:20 a.m. and notified Campus Police. Several coaches also noticed the fire upon returning to the building.
Ellisville Fire Department Chief Sam Fletcher said the rapid response of the town's firefighters and others from area volunteer fire departments helped get the fire under control. More than 70 volunteers and paid firemen from 15 fire departments responded to the 3-alarm fire. The departments that responded, including Ellisville, Laurel, Hebron, Pleasant Ridge, Calhoun, Moselle, Union, Ovett, Sandersville, Johnson, M &M, Glade, Powers, and Soso.
The Bobcat Field House contained five offices, a training room, weight room, dressing room, film room, and a laundry room. The 6,300 sq. ft. building was built in 1980 and an additional 1,200 square feet was added in 1990. The fire apparently started in the laundry room, according to Fletcher.
It was the first fire on the JCJC campus since the late 1970s when a girls' dorm built in 1911 was destroyed during Christmas break, a spokesman said. The only other disaster to hit JCJC was in 1990 when a tornado blew the roof off the game room.