By Barbara Knowles
Associate Editor
[email protected]

COVINGTON — The Georgia Fire Marshal’s Office has assumed responsibility for investigating a blaze that destroyed the Porterdale Gym on Thursday, and an agency official said investigators have not yet been able to get to the scene to begin their work.
“It is not believed to be arson at this time, but that could change,” said agency spokesman Glen Allen. “We are still investigating, but there are no suspects and no one has been arrested.”
Investigators have not been able to go into the fire scene, Allen said Friday, and would be putting up a fence around the area until they could do so.
“It may not be until Monday that we are able to go back inside,” Allen said, adding that it was his understanding the roof had collapsed, and a crane will be required to lift it from the rubble.
Unconfirmed reports circulated throughout the day Friday that a 12-year-old juvenile was responsible for setting the fire after bragging that he was going to do it. Another report said there were two young teens involved in the incident and that they had video-taped the fire as it spread.
“We haven’t been able to get in to start probing around to determine anything,” said Porterdale Police Chief John Clifton. “We haven’t been able to substantiate any of the rumors, and at this time, that’s all they are — rumors.”
Clifton said no one had been questioned “as a suspect” in connection with the blaze and said his officers had not received any recent complaints of vandalism at the facility.
Porterdale Mayor Pro Tem Bobby Hamby said the city carried insurance on the historic building.
“It was nowhere near what it will take to put it back,” he said. “It was just kind of minimum coverage.”
Hamby said some old Porterdale city and police records were stored in the gym and were lost in the fire, but all current records are stored at City Hall, he said.
The city had just taken delivery of meter boxes to be installed in a new subdivision in Porterdale, and those were also lost in the fire, Hamby said. He did not have an estimated value of the meter boxes.
“Plus, we lost all the city Christmas decorations,” Hamby added, “so we don’t know what we’re going to do this Christmas. But we’ll see what we can scrounge up somewhere.”
Hamby said he plans to contact other municipalities to see if they have old decorations that can be donated to Porterdale for the holiday season.
As far as the future is concerned, Hamby said the city will have a structural engineer evaluate what is left of the old gym to determine if it can be salvaged.
“We’re hoping that what’s left can be saved, and we can build from there,” he said.
The fire was discovered about 7:30 p.m. Thursday when Porterdale resident Lanier Wise saw smoke coming from the building. He walked over from his backyard, which adjoins the gym property, and saw flames already engulfing the building.
The Porterdale City Council was meeting. Wise alerted them, and a 911 call was placed.
Firefighters responded from the city of Covington and Newton County and officials said it took several hours to bring the fire under control. No injuries have been reported in connection with the fire.
More than 12 hours after the fire was contained, Newton County firefighters were still on the scene putting out hot spots and making sure the blaze was finally squelched.
Electricity was connected to the building at the time the fire began, Allen of the Georgia Fire Marshal’s Office said.
Newton Citizen Editor and Publisher Alice Queen contributed to this article.