Mary Hardin-Baylor students report on Gatesville fire aftermath

Five University of Mary Hardin-Baylor journalism students walked Gatesville’s historic square with cameras, notebooks and microphones, turning the downtown fire aftermath into a broadcast-style breaking news assignment that kept the city’s recovery in focus.

Professor Paul Carr sent the group into the community to interview local officials and residents, gather video and build a packaged news story around the March 16 fire that damaged businesses on the historic courthouse square. Senior journalism student Carmen Vela and junior journalism student Jack Freedman said it was their first real chance to cover breaking news and pushed them to research the fire carefully before they wrote and narrated their reports.

The assignment came as Gatesville was still living with the damage. The fire was first reported about 6:50 p.m. on the southwest corner of the square in the 100 block of South 6th Street near the Coryell County Sheriff’s Office. It burned late into the morning of March 17, and smoldering was reported as late as March 24. Investigators later determined the fire originated inside The Gatesville Messenger building, and the Texas Department of Insurance State Fire Marshal’s Office ruled out arson.

Four businesses were affected: Leaird’s Furniture, The Gatesville Messenger, Freedom Bail Bonds and Davidson Chiropractic. The main structure involved was believed to have been built in the early 1900s. The east wall of Leaird’s Furniture and most of The Gatesville Messenger building collapsed, and The Gatesville Messenger said it lost newspaper archives from the 1930s. Leaird’s Furniture, a fixture in town since 1898, was among the longtime businesses hit hardest.

Freedman interviewed Gatesville Chamber of Commerce liaison Brad Hunt and Coryell County Judge Roger Miller, while Vela focused on the community response and attended a Gatesville Lions Club meeting to speak with members. Their reporting mirrored the way local leaders and residents have been forced to explain what happened and what comes next as the town works through the loss of one of its most recognizable blocks.

The fire also became a government and civic matter quickly. Miller issued a local disaster declaration on March 17, and the county extended it on March 24, opening the door to continued recovery operations and state help. A Gatesville Square Relief Benefit was scheduled for April 25 on the courthouse square, sponsored by Mission Gatesville, the City of Gatesville and KWTX, as the town continued rebuilding around a fire that left a lasting mark on the square and on the people who depend on it.