Vacant dorm on former Morris Brown College campus catches fire
ATLANTA (FOX 5 Atlanta) - A massive fire on the campus of Morris Brown College in the Atlanta University Center Historic District could be seen for miles Wednesday evening.
Firefighters could be seen racing to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd and Vine Street in northwest Atlanta just after 9:00 p.m. Images sent to FOX 5 News show a massive fire just west of Mercedes-Benz Stadium. The fire was also caught from FOX 5's 101 Marietta Cam.
Atlanta Fire officials said when crews arrived they found a 3-story building with heavy smoke pouring from the third floor and a fire breaking through the roof. Firefighters were forced to battle the blaze from the outside due to instability of the structure, officials said.
Fire investigators were called to the scene to determine the cause of the blaze. It was not immediately clear how much damage the fire caused.
A spokesman for the Atlanta Fire Department tells FOX5 while the building is located on the Morris Brown College campus, it actually is owned by Clark Atlanta University.
Traffic along Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd was shut down for several hours while firefighters worked to put out the blaze.
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This is not the first fire to damage one of the Morris Brown College buildings. In August 2015, firefighters said squatters set fire on one of the floors of the Gaines Hall, the first permanent building on the Atlanta University campus, built in 1869. The fire gutted the structure.
Morris Brown College was forced to sell many of its buildings in 2014 due to its bankruptcy. Clark Atlanta University currently owns the property.