Five years ago, the Bedford Middle School building was intentionally set ablaze.
While the building was empty when it caught fire, the historical building that brought knowledge to Bedford’s youth suffered damage that can still be seen today.
Residents such as Megan Bond remember where they were that day. In fact, ask around, and almost everyone can tell you about the fire.
“It was a very eerie scene and very quiet, you know fire is kind of quiet, but by chance when I was standing there, I looked and the custodian that works there was standing next to me,” Bond said. “So we stood and watched it together.”
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Five years later and the building still stands tall, but it’s different now. Doors are boarded up, chain locks are in place to keep trespassers out and instead of students rushing in to learn times tables and American history, it’s construction workers cleaning the place up.
Memories of a better time, but now most people just look at the damage and remember the fire.
“The whole town was just sad. The coworkers, just lots of memories in that place and it’s just sad,” Bond said. “The coworkers, just lots of memories in that place just years and years of memories.”
The building is supposed to be turned into condos but progress has been slow due to various delays.
For some, however, some progress is better than none at all.
“It’s sad that it went like that, but to also see the changes in the past five years since the fire is very encouraging.”
