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 Fire destroys Georgia Theater in Athens
The Georgia Theatre, a historic performance space in Athens, GA has been gutted in a fire which ripped through the building on Friday morning. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
The venue has played host to alternative rock acts like R.E.M. and the B-52s, Tom Waits, Dave Matthews and many more.
According to witnesses, the fire began at around 7.00am and by 8.00am there were 4 ladder companies on the scene. 50 firefighters fought till it was contained by 10 in the morning. The roof had collapsed by then.
The area was struck by lightning couple of times last evening, but the actual cause of the fire is not yet known.
The theater was in a converted cinema. Wilmot Greene, the current owner said the renovation of the theatre that he started since buying 5 years back, was almost towards completion. He said, “It was almost completely done. It was really beautiful. It was in better shape than it’s ever been in.” He added that “Even if the insurance pays for it and we can rebuild, it’ll never be the same, they don’t build them like that anymore.”
Alternative venues are being considered for those eleven acts that were due to perform at the theatre as part of the annual AthFest music festival next weekend.
No injuries have been reported.
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News / Gossips by jon_plessel
