STEPHENS -- Stephens Mayor Harry Brown spent most of the day Monday with his mobile phone to his ear, coordinating the movement of city offices to the old Stephens High School building.
A Thursday night fire destroyed the Stephens Municipal Building, which housed the mayor's office, as well as the police and water departments.
The Stephens Fire Department, Buena Vista Volunteer Fire Department and Elliott Volunteer Fire Department responded around 10:45 p.m. to a report of fire at the municipal building.
It took firefighters about three hours to extinguish the blaze. Brown said the exact cause is still under investigation, though, "all signs are pointing to an electrical issue that started in the Police Department."
Ouachita County Sheriff David Norwood said his office is investigating whether an 18-wheeler accident that happened just before the fire could have been a contributing factor.
Norwood said the truck struck a transformer, possibly causing a power surge inside the building.
A dollar amount on the loss has not yet been calculated.
On Monday, all that remained of the municipal building was a pile of bricks and steel girders, with the smell of charred rubble lingering along First Street near the site.
Brown said telephone workers were busy Monday setting up lines for city offices and the Police Department, and he anticipated that they would be active by the end of the day. Meanwhile, water and sewer customers can pay their bills at the Security Bank building, across First Street from the burned-out municipal building.
Offices for the police and water departments and mayor should be set up by today or Wednesday at the old high school, he said.
The mayor said he had been planning to move city offices and the Police Department out of the more-than-100-year-old structure for some time, and he anticipated insurance money from the fire will be adequate to renovate the former high school building for that purpose.
Around Stephens on Monday afternoon, many of the 891 residents of the Ouachita County community, south of Camden, were still in disbelief about the fire.
Randy Watkins said he drove by this morning and saw the ruins for the first time. He had been out of town and heard the news from his wife, who sent him a text message about the fire Friday.
"I just had to see it for myself," Watkins said. "This building has always been a fixture in town, and now it's gone. It really is hard to believe."
Laura Akins walked by the ruins with her mobile phone in her hand, snapping pictures from several angles. She said she was documenting the fire as part of a history project.
"I have always been interested in old buildings around our area, and to have one be destroyed is a pretty big deal," Akins said.
"Some people may drive by and not know that this pile of debris used to be our City Hall. And, 30 years from now, when kids hear that City Hall burned down one day, hopefully they can look at my pictures and know more about what happened."
State Desk on 06/16/2015