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Masonic Temple fire: Tallest building in Zanesville, Ohio, home to art studios goes up in flames

The fire also resulted in the safe evacuation of prisoners from Muskingum County Jail

The Masonic Temple in Ohio’s city of Zanesville reportedly caught fire late Thursday night, January 6. The historic building is home to several art studios. It’s not known yet how the tallest building in the city caught fire and if there is any injury or fatality.

According to the Zanesville Times Recorder, officials from the fire department were at the scene located from 36-42 N. Fourth Street in downtown Zanesville. The fire also resulted in the safe evacuation of prisoners and staff members from Muskingum County Jail and Courthouse, which is near the building, Muskingum County Sheriff Matt Lutz said.

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Due to the fire, multiple buildings near the site also faced power outages. There were a number of posts, photos, and videos doing rounds on the internet showing the Masonic Temple blazing. Christine Holmes, Zanesville@timesrecorderreporter, sharing a picture from the site tweeted: “We’re beginning to hear loud booms from the building. EMA Director Jeff Jadwin said all county fire agencies are on scene preparing for collapse.”

Another tweet from Holmes included a video with a caption that read, “The Masonic Temple in downtown Zanesville is fully engulfed in flames. The iconic building, the city’s tallest, is home to numerous art studios. We know the county jail located next door has been safely evacuated. We are still waiting on word regarding the temple.” Her most recent tweet was “Building manager of the Masonic Temple Bob Grayson has informed me that everyone made it out of the building safely.”

A tweet from another user stated, “The Masonic Temple in Zanesville is in flames at the moment. This building is so important to arts in my hometown. Thinking of the artists whose studios and work is ablaze currently.”

A person disturbed by the news wrote, “Holy shit dude. What the hell. When I was in HS and college, buildings in Cambridge burned down almost every year. This hits different. Absolutely gutted to see.” The second one said, “Zanesville lost a huge part of the art community. I can’t believe the Masonic temple is gone.” “Watching a historic building and the host to so many local artists in Zanesville completely engulfed in flames. This is such a loss for the artist community. The Masonic Temple is host to many art studios and they were preparing for the monthly art walk tomorrow,” the third one added.

Recalling a past event, a user tweeted, “Reminds me of something from a meeting room deep inside a Masonic temple…” “Oh my God! I have friends who have studios in the temple. I hope it was empty of people. This is horrible!” another one added.