Fire breaks out at Virginia Intermont College campus as local police say efforts to preserve school fall on ‘deaf ears’

A historic Virginia college was engulfed in flames early Friday morning as local officials said efforts to preserve the buildings fell on “deaf ears.”

The fire broke out around 1:00 a.m. on what was once Virginia Intermont College’s campus in Bristol, Va. – located on the border between eastern Tennessee and Virginia.

The “full inferno” spread to other buildings and the main hall collapsed shortly after 2 a.m., according to News channel 11.

Stunned Bristol City Councilor Neal Osborne, who watched flames ravage the 19th-century private school overnight, shared photos and videos of the blaze as emergency crews worked to contain the blaze.

“What happened here tonight is pure tragedy,” he says. Osborne said on X.

Osborne had been fighting to preserve the historic campus for years, but said those efforts fell short.

“The city’s *several* attempts to get the owners to do something have fallen on deaf ears,” Osborne claimed. “We have fined them, we have levied additional taxes, we have declared the property destroyed, we have even tried to secure the campus even within legal limits.”

The cause of the fire is unknown.

The library building went up in smoke last month, This is written by news channel 11.

Osborne believes the recent fires were caused by “negligence on the part of the owners of this campus to properly secure the buildings.”

The mayor also discussed the challenges with the owners ahead of Friday’s inferno.

“We’re in a bad situation for it because it’s owned by somebody and they’re paying their taxes,” Bristol Mayor Becky Nave told 8 News. “They keep things updated, except for the property.”

The campus was founded in 1884 and became a mixed school in 1972.

The college closed in May 2014 due to financial problems and loss of accreditation, leaving it, along with the interior, in disrepair for over a decade, according to 8 News

The school was reportedly bought by US Magis International, a Chinese-owned company based in New York.

In 2016, there were reportedly plans to turn it into a business school, but that was delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic.

“Please keep the firefighters, citizens of our city and the alumni and family of Virginia Intermont in your thoughts and prayers,” Osborne wrote. “This is an incredibly dark day in our city.”