Investigators still working as Mott House smolders

Sept. 09--Puffs of smoke still drifted out of the rubble of ash, twisted steel and red brick that was the Calhoun-Griffin-Mott House Monday in downtown Columbus as investigators try to determine what caused Sunday's fire.

The historic 173-year-old structure appears to be a total loss.

"We are trying to investigate it, but something like this can be tough," said Columbus Fire and Emergency Medical Services Chief Jeff Meyer. "First, we have to be concerned about the safety of our personnel."

Two of the exterior brick walls and two load-bearing internal brick walls were part of the original construction in 1841. There are two outside walls and four load-bearing walls -- all brick -- that were built when TSYS stabilized the building in 1997.

Any decision to knock down what is left with the building will be made by TSYS, Meyer said.

"We will not make that decision," Meyer said.

When fire officials are confident the fire is out, they will turn over control of the site to TSYS.

The investigation is being handled by the Columbus Fire and Emergency Services investigators and no outside agency has been requested to assist, Meyer said. The insurance carriers involved will likely hire their own private investigators, said Fire Investigator Danny Irions.

"They will bring someone in to look out for their interests," Irions said. "There are multiple insurance companies involved."

The Mott House was under a nearly $4 million renovation project by Thayer-Bray Construction Co. of Columbus. The project started last year and was scheduled for completion in April 2015.

The fire department still had a truck on the scene Monday and it would likely stay throughout the day, according to Meyer, who surveyed the remains Monday morning with other members of his department.

There was a steady stream of onlookers Monday, peering through the temporary construction at the shell that was left by the fire that was reported at 2:26 a.m. One of those was Elizabeth Barker, executive director of the Historic Columbus Foundation.

Barker called the damage to the building "devastating," and held out hope parts of it could be salvaged.

"Hopefully there is an opportunity for reconstruction, but we really don't know at this point," Barker said.

TSYS spent about $1.5 million in the late 1990s to put the outside of structure back in place when the mill that encapsulated it was torn down.

"With all that TSYS has done, it hurts me to think about it," Barker said. "But how compromised is it? ... I hope we can turn this into something positive."

TSYS spokesman Kyle Mims said that fire investigators and insurance investigators were still on the scene Monday afternoon. TSYS has made no determination on what it is going to do with the structure, Mims said.

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