OVID TOWNSHIP, MI (WTVB) – Branch County’s Ovid Township Hall, which opened just 12 years ago, was destroyed in a fire that broke out just before midnight Wednesday night.
Neighbors reported hearing a loud explosion before the fire broke out.
Lakeland and Bronson firefighters were called in to battle the flames in the one story building on South Angola Road south of Coldwater.
The building was fully involved in flames by the time crews arrived. Firefighters managed to keep the flames away from a nearby propane tank. No injuries were reported. Crews were on the scene until 3:00am this morning. The cause of the fire is being investigated by the Michigan State Police.
Ovid Township Clerk Robbi Omo kept some township records, including cemetery records, in her home office, but a majority of records were in the township hall. It wasn’t known Thursday if those records are lost.
Ovid Township Supervisor Greg Gemmill says they are looking at several options for a temporary location.
Fire safes will have to be removed from the burned out building and put into a storage facility.
Gemmill says they are open but it will be slow for awhile.
He says contact numbers for township officials are available on their web site www.ovidtownship.org.
For the time being, township officials will have to find a temporary location for meetings, gatherings and government business. A Board of Review meeting will have to be rescheduled and moved. Reassessment notices have just been mailed and Gemmill says they will get ahold of people as best as they can.
It’s the second calamity to hit a township hall in Branch County during the past week. The Coldwater Township Hall was hit by lightning last Friday which fried the building’s phone system and computers.
