Massive fire burns through former Virginia college: 'A tragedy for our city'

BRISTOL, Va. (WJHL) – A "full inferno" engulfed the buildings of the former Virginia Intermont College in Bristol on Friday morning, prompting responses from over a dozen nearby fire departments — and sparking questions over the recent state of the structures.

A fires could be seen burning the main building on campus when Nexstar's WJHL arrived on the scene. Shortly after 2 a.m., the channel's crew saw the building collapse.

Additional buildings on the campus had also caught fire, with crews still battling the blazes well into the morning.

City Councilman Neal Osborne said in a video posted to social media from the scene that firefighters from surrounding localities and departments were needed at the scene due to the size of the ”full inferno.”

”There’s no way around it; this is very bad,” Osborne said in the video. “This is a tragedy for our city.”

Osbourne added that he was "furious" over the incident, which he blamed on poor caretaking by the property's current owners. He said previous attempts by the city to push the owners of take proactive care have “fallen on deaf ears.”

The private college, which closed in 2014, was purchased in 2016 by U.S. Magis International, a Chinese-owned company based in New York. Multiple fires have occurred at the campus in the last few years, including one at the former library building in November.

”They will have to answer for this, in my mind,” Osborne said. “They will answer for why this property was not secured, why they did not take proactive steps to prevent this from happening.”

When asked how he intended to pursue the owners of the property, Osbourne told WJHL that he plans to discuss options with the city attorney.

"I'm unsure what legal avenues we have as a city, but I am going to talk with our city attorney first thing in the morning," he said. "The owners have neglected for years to secure this campus and now we've lost it. What was merely another financial investment for them was a part of the fiber of our city."

A cause for the fire was not immediately provided by officials. Power was not running to the building, Osbourne said. Neighbors in the area of the campus said a significant homeless population had been living in the structures.

In November, Vice-Mayor Jake Holmes said officials were "bugging the heck" out of the owners to have them secure the property and clean up any hazards, but said the city is limited, legally, in how to move forward.

"We’ve tried everything we can. We’re scouring the law books to find out what else we can do," Holmes said at the time.

Chief Mike Armstrong of the Bristol Virginia Fire Department also said in November that the buildings were "just too dangerous" for people to be in.

“I can tell you within the last 12 months, we’ve had multiple fires up here,” Armstrong said. “We’ve had a call up here several months ago where a subject was shot.”

Virginia Intermont College opened in 1884. The school closed 130 years later in 2014 following financial troubles and the loss of its accreditation.