Fire Claims Parks-Belk Building

Firefighters in Morristown have been hard at work for the last 12 hours battling a fire at a downtown landmark. The Parks-Belk building caught on fire around 9pm Tuesday night. Fire agencies from Morristown and Jefferson City worked on that fire throughout the night keeping it contained to just that building.

The fire was under control this morning, but fire crews say they will probably be on scene for most of the day today to make sure the blaze does not spark back up. The city of Morristown had received a grant of more than $36,000 to help renovate that building that once housed a popular department store downtown. The plan was to renovate the structure and turn it into a downtown apartment building. Those plans are now threatened as the building appears to be a total loss.

Firefighters battling the blaze say flames were going from the main floor to the roof, causing several floors to eventually collapse in the historic building that featured one of the first elevators in Morristown.

Numerous streets were closed Wednesday morning as crews battled the fire.