City officials: Still no answers as to cause of blaze

A private contractor has been out this week clearing up charred debris from the remains of the Old Jockey Plant fire that happened back in February, and as the work was underway one thing remains a mystery: what caused the fire to start?

City officials including Chief Kyle Watters have reported that thus far, the answer remains unknown as the State Fire Marshals Office have yet to report back on any results of their investigation.

Officials from the State Insurance Commissioner – who oversee the Fire Marshals Office – reported that the size of the fire and complexity of the building, the investigation on the state level remains ongoing and no further updates are available.

So the mystery persists. But not without some action on the site in recent days.

Workers with a private contractor began to clear the debris early in the week, with heavy equipment getting into the structure for the first time since the blaze on Thursday. City officials have been on-site in the past days to ensure that damage isn’t done to remaining water main lines and hydrants still on site as remnants of the previous complex of industrial plants on the property.

The February 27 blaze took up the resources of multiple fire departments through the overnight hours into early morning before they were able to get the fire under control. Firefighters from Cedartown, Rockmart, Polk County and Rome all participated in one form or fashion during the incident, and Cave Spring Fire was on-call in case they were needed during the incident.

The fire burned so hot it damaged and melted the asphalt on West Avenue, melted the copper in the power lines across the roadway and next to the facility, and caused several weeks of shutdown in the strip of area before repairs were fully completed.

Fortunately, the fire caused no major damage to any neighboring structures.

Hundreds gathered around to watch the flames dance in heavy winds and consume the historic structure that was the last remnant of a larger complex of factory and warehouse buildings that originally was a spinning facility, later a warehouse for the Jockey clothing brand, and ultimately ended as a flea market.

Cedartown hadn’t experienced a fire so intense in decades, when the Goodyear plant just a stone’s throw away from the old Jockey plant caught fire and burned after being empty for several years.

The old Goodyear plant site is now the home to Goodyear Park, where the city has invested in a multi-phase plan of development of new soccer fields, a skate park and soon-to-be completed parking lot.

What’s next for the site of the old Jockey plant is yet to be determined, as it remains in private hands.