It started around 10 p.m. Thursday in the two-story structure that was undergoing renovations. We are strong enough and we will rebuild, Mason County Judge Jerry Bearden told Austin s KXAN-TV.
All that was left by Friday morning was the building s rock wall structure. County records and documents had been relocated last year and were safe, KXAN reported.
Firefighters had responded to a house fire more than a mile away from the courthouse at around the same time, but there was no word if the two were related, Bearden said. On Friday, a suspect was taken into custody after authorities said they believe the courthouse fire was intentionally set.
Arsonist burns century-old Texas courthouse to ground, police say
Safe to say his hearing will happen somewhere else.
A Texas man burned down a 111-year-old county courthouse Thursday night, police said.
The Mason County Courthouse in central Texas, about 100 miles northwest of Austin, had stood since 1910 until it was almost entirely destroyed by the fire, local NBC affiliate KXAN reported. It was a landmark in the 2,200-person town of Mason.
No one was inside the building when it was set ablaze, according to the Associated Press. Officials also said all important documents had been removed for upcoming renovations.
“It’s a terrible tragedy for people in the county,” Mason County Judge Jerry Bearden told KXAN. “This is my 19th year being in office here, and I’ve been through floods and fires, but I’ve never had anything with a gut punch that I’ve had with this.”
February 05, 2021 - 12:26 PM
MASON, Texas - A suspect has been arrested been taken into custody following a massive fire that destroyed all but the rock outer walls of an 111-year-old Texas courthouse, an official says.
The fire at the Mason County Courthouse in Mason, about 100 miles (160 kilometres) northwest of Austin, started Thursday night. No one was in the building. Mason County Judge Jerry Bearden said the flames could be seen from miles away.
âRight now, it s just a shell,â he told television station KXAN. âIt just breaks your heart to look at it.â
He told The Associated Press on Friday that fire investigators suspect arson in both the courthouse fire and another blaze around the same time at a house about a mile away.
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