Athens' Georgia Theatre engulfed in flames

Doesn't look good for one of the city's most famous venues.

http://www.ajc.com/news/content/metro/stories/2009/06/19/athens_fire_georgia_theatre.html?cxntlid=homepage_tab_newstab

Nothing posted on the Banner-Herald site, which is utterly inexcusable.

An editor's note on the ABH site says the fire knocked out power in the downtown Athens area, which the ABH building is at the end of. They've now got a story posted. Roof is partially collapsed, and the owner says the interior is likely destroyed, but the exterior walls may be OK.

Power outage is a tough blow, but that's why you've got to have backup plans for this sort of thing. Someone in Augusta should be able to at least put something up on the ABH site.

 

I've seen a few pictures of the fire, thanks to some local friends and Twitter (yay, social media!). It looks as though the majority of the damage is in the rear of the venue, and that the structure itself might be okay.

 

Looks like the outside shell will live on, but the roof is gone and the interior is toast.

Pretty simple math: Decades of spilled beer + Old wood + No sprinklers.

 

Yeah, if the New Orleans and Biloxi papers can publish the day after Katrina, you'd think everyone else would have a "no-power" contingency plan.

 

They could always move operations to the R&B. I'm not really kidding.

 

A very sad day for me. The GATH was one of the places that made growing up in Athens so special.

 

Firehouse! Firehouse!