Callier Springs clubhouse burns
The historic country club facility was built in 1939 and remodeled in the 1990s.
Fire gutted the second floor of the iconic two-story Callier Springs Country Club house early Saturday morning. Rome Fire Marshal Johnie Evans said he has not been able to pinpoint a specific cause for the blaze which was reported around 1:30 Saturday morning.
Brothers Grant and Brian Miller serve as the managing partners who operate the club now. They are grandsons of Arthur S. Miller, one of the founders of the club close to 80 years ago with his brother Elmo Miller. The facility has remained in Miller family ownership from its founding.
Capt. Steve Bailey with the Rome Fire Department said flames were still shooting from the second level of the old building when the fire department changed shifts at 7 a.m. Saturday.
The fire started in the roof or attic of the building on the pool side of the structure. The location, coupled with the fact that firefighters could not get under the blaze out of concerns for safety should the roof completely collapse, made it an extremely difficult fire to fight.
“It spread downward into the top floor and it gutted the top floor,” Bailey said.
The first and second floors of the building are separated by concrete flooring which halted the spread of the flames. Bailey said the first floor did sustain some smoke and water damage.
Bailey did say firefighters were made aware that there had been some roofing work being done on the building earlier in the day.
“Can we attribute it to them? No,” Bailey said. “There is no smoking gun there.”
The original clubhouse was completed in 1939 and the second story was added less than a decade later. The building underwent an extensive renovation in the early 1990s and an exclusive men’s lounge was created on the second floor; however it is gone today.
The club posted the following statement on Facebook on Saturday: “Plans for a collective effort to start cleaning up is set to start tomorrow morning. We all are heart broken but ready to start rebuilding one step at a time. Our Callier Springs CC family is amazing and all are welcome to come help. Tomorrow should be cleaning the parking lot and making plans to establish a temporary club house over the next week.”