City to demolish two burned buildings on Front Street

The Meridian City Council held a special called meeting this afternoon to discuss the mayor’s emergency declaration signed yesterday during the city council meeting on the burned buildings on Front Street. These two buildings caught fire last Thursday and one of the buildings was condemned back in October 2020. The council approved the $275,000 project on demolishing the buildings.

“...for the sake of the public safety of our citizens, I’m glad that we moved forward," said Mayor Percy Bland. "Hopefully over the next few weeks, we will have this building taken down and we have prevented anyone from getting hurt from a risk management standpoint.”

The fire marshall and public works department says these burned buildings can be dangerous to citizens if not taken down.

“We have a three-story structure and a large portion of the third and fourth floors are gone which gives you the inside stability of the building that is now gone," said Public Safety Director Doug Stephens. "The exterior walls are unstable, they’re cracks and things like that so it was an issue where we needed to take some action.”

The demolishing of the two buildings is set to start within the next two weeks.