WAVE 3 TV Louisville, KY | Fire causes heavy damage to Madison, Indiana courthouse

Fire causes heavy damage to Madison, Indiana courthouse

By Marisela Burgos - email
Posted by Charles Gazaway - email

MADISON, IN (WAVE) - The historic Jefferson County, Indiana was heavily damaged by a fire Tuesday evening that destroyed the building's signature copula.

Tuesday's edition of the Madison Courier showed an image of the courthouse cupola nearing the end of $150,000 in renovations that were being done. The work was to be completed in time for the city's bicentennial starting June 6. Wednesday night, all that was left of the cupola was a collapsed, burned shell that was still smoldering in the night air.

Madison firefighters were notified of the blaze around 6:15 p.m. Chief Steve Horton said he was attending a monthly fire department officers meeting at Madison City Hall, just two blocks away, when the call came in. Horton said that as he pulled onto Main Street, he saw heavy, black smoke and flames coming from the top of courthouse cupola.

About 200 firefighters from Madison and surrounding areas fought the fire, which took over four hours to bring under control. Horton says there were no civilian injuries and only minor injuries to firefighters. One firefighter was taken to the hospital for shortness of breath. Another suffered a cut to a finger.

Horton says while there was renovation work ongoing, it is too early to say what caused the fire. He has asked for assistance from the Indiana State Fire Marshal's Office to investigate the fire. That investigator is expected to arrive Thursday morning.

Horton told WAVE 3 said the courthouse in any community is the anchor point and the fire is shocking for the city, especially with the bicentennial coming in a few weeks. He said the loss of the courthouse, on which construction was begun in 1854 and finished in 1855, would take the core out of the community.

Madison city and Jefferson County leaders are scheduled to meet at 9 a.m. Thursday to determine where to hold court sessions and house offices that called the courthouse home. It is likely some of those functions will be moved into the Madison City Hall. County officials say they will rebuild the 154-year-old courthouse.

The Jefferson County Courthouse also housed the county jail and Jefferson County's 911 center. The Indiana Department of Homeland Security has moved the jail's inmates to the Jennings County Jail until other arrangement can be made.

This is the second major fire to hit downtown Madison in recent years. On August 25, 2006, two historic downtown buildings, the Madison Elks Lodge and a former city hall building that was occupied by an insurance company, were damaged in fire. The cause of that fire is still undetermined.

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