Searcy Fire Destroys City Building

A fire destroys an old city building that housed the central fire station, the district court offices, and the probation offices. The fire started around 6:15 p.m. Thursday night in the probation offices on the second floor of the building at 311 North Gum Street. Firefighters managed to save their fire trucks and some of their gear. They`re relocating to fire station number three on Beebe Street. The probation offices are moving to the code enforcement building. The district court is using space in City Hall and the County Courthouse. City leaders say services shouln`t be interrupted too much, but there could be a few delays. Computer experts were able to salvage one of the hard drives from a computer in the building. It has most of the court records on it. They were also able to save the filing cabinets filled with court documents. So far, fire investigators have not found the cause of the fire or set a damage estimate. City leaders think insurance will cover most of the losses.