City condemns Fifth Street commercial building gutted by fire, arson investigators to arrive today

Mike Wolanin | The Republic A view of the aftermath of a large fire at 422 Fifth Street in downtown Columbus, Ind., Sunday, Dec. 4, 2022. The building partially collapsed due to the fire.

Copyright The Republic, Columbus

COLUMBUS, Ind. — The city of Columbus has declared one of the buildings affected by the Fifth Street commercial building fire as unsafe for human habitation.

The Columbus Board of Works voted this morning to condemn 422 Fifth St. The building, owned by Jayne Hege and her sisters, was the site of a fire reported late Saturday night. The family also owns another Fifth Street building next door to 422 on its east side. Businesses located in that building have indicated that the impact there is less severe, though water and smoke damage are an issue.

Columbus Fire Chief Andy Lay said that two state arson investigators are coming to Columbus to examine the case, along with a third-party engineer.

Code enforcement officer Fred Barnett had already placed a condemned notice on the property prior to Tuesday’s board meeting.

“That was because it’s definitely unsafe,” he said. “Nobody should be in there.”

He requested that the property be condemned until it is made safe for human habitation and that the property owners send written reports to code enforcement each week “until the property is taken care of.”

George Hege spoke on behalf of the family at Tuesday’s board of works meeting. He said he’s been working with the state fire marshal, and a state official was brought in on Sunday. Investigators believe they know where the fire started, but they also believe it would be unsafe to “poke and prod around” this area.

In regards to the insurance process, Hege said they received word of the fire Saturday evening, and he was on site until 5 a.m. Sunday. His insurance agent arrived later that morning.

“I’ve, since then, talked to the adjustor that’s been assigned to the building,” said Hege. “So we basically have to go through all the steps of contacting a third-party fire inspector, a third-party insurance adjustor. Our insurance company has to work with all the tenants’ insurance companies to come to a conclusion of what caused it and all that stuff. So to my knowledge, until the insurance stuff’s done, there’s not a whole lot we can physically do with the building.”

He added that it is his understanding that all insurance companies associated with the building have to agree on plan “before anything can move forward.” A building inspector is supposed to examine the site later this week.

For more on this story, see Wednesday’s Republic.