Fire-Gutted Building in West Virginia Demolished

A five-story building gutted by a fire in downtown Welch, W.V., has been demolished.

A contractor hired by the city tore down the Libby Building on Saturday.

Mayor Reba Honaker tells the Bluefield Daily Telegraph that Empire Salvage plans to tear down an adjacent building Monday. That building was damaged when the Libby Building partially collapsed last week.

The cause of the Jan. 24 fire hasn’t been determined.

The Libby Building housed 13 apartments, a bar and a vacant storefront. Honaker says the building was constructed in the early 1920s.