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By Erika Anderson
Staff Writer
ATLANTA-The former Village of St. Joseph administration building sustained
an excess of $500,000 in damage when a fire raged through the abandoned
building Feb. 23.
Ten Fulton County fire trucks filled with firefighters were on hand to
extinguish the blaze, which began around 6:30 p.m. Fulton County Fire
Investigator Captain Kenneth Hunter said the cause of the blaze was an
electrical short circuit in the main electrical box of the building.
The building sits on a 45-acre campus that, for 33 years, was the former
home of the Village, which served as a residential treatment program for
troubled adolescents between the ages of 11 and 17. The residential program
closed on Aug. 31, 1998, and was replaced with the Village of St. Joseph's
Child and Adolescent Counseling Service, which opened in an office on North
Druid Hills Road.
The campus is also home to St. Joseph's Place, a service of Catholic Housing
Initiative, which provides low-income housing to the elderly, and Most Blessed
Sacrament Church. Father Bruce Wilkinson, pastor of Most Blessed Sacrament,
heard about the fire from one of the residents of St. Joseph's Place, who paged
him.
"When I answered the page, they said the church was on fire," he
said. "When I got there and realized that it wasn't the church, I was
grateful, but at the same time it was kind of shocking."
The church did not suffer any damage, though some burning cinders carried by
the wind ignited some grass and shrubbery in front of the parish. Father
Wilkinson said that there is a strong smell of smoke in the church and it will
have to be fumigated.
The phone and gas lines of the church were also routed through the
administration building of the Village of St. Joseph. Father Wilkinson also
said that the parish was temporarily without telephone services and, at press
time, was without heat.
"Fortunately, though, the weather is nice so we don't need heat,"
he said.
Steve Brown, the claims manager for Catholic Mutual Insurance, which insured
the building, said his first responsibility was to determine the cause and
origin of the fire.
"The next step will be to secure an agreed repair price with an
approved construction company," he said.
Brown said that because the two-story building, which was built in 1967, was
so well constructed, the basement was virtually free of damage.
"Our task will be demolition, debris removal and reconstruction of the
main level," he said. "We'll also have to clean the basement."
Msgr. Peter Dora, vicar general of the archdiocese, said that plans were
currently underway to renovate the building and turn it into a training center
for deacons.
"If the structure is still substantial, which we believe it is, then we
can rebuild and get back to our original purpose just somewhat behind
schedule," he said.
Msgr. Dora estimates that the fire set back the renovations a minimum of six
months, but he realizes the damage could have been much worse.
"We are very grateful to the Fulton County Fire Department for handling
it the way they did so that no other buildings were damaged," he said.
"We were extremely pleased."
Though no one was hurt in the blaze and the building will be rebuilt, the
charred remains of the building stir feelings of sadness for those whose lives
were touched by the Village of St. Joseph.
Charles Bright served as the director of the Village from 1990 until 1998
and currently serves as the administrator of the Village's counseling services.
He said that the administration building held clinical offices, therapists'
offices, administrative offices and classrooms in the basement.
"It was really the central point of operation for the Village," he
said. "I was stunned when I heard (about the fire)."
Bright said that the fire caused a "great deal of sadness for all of us
who had spent time there."
"If those walls could talk, they would tell some stories," he
said. "In 33 years, there were so many lives touched by things that went
on in that campus."
Bright said that the archdiocese is fortunate because the building was so
well-built. Stone floors and walls prevented further damage to the building.
"It is kind of a sad punctuation to the ending of St. Joseph's,"
he said. "At the same time it opens up opportunities for whatever they
(the archdiocese) decide to do with it. It will have a new identity and won't
have to differentiate between what it has been and what it will be."
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