City Block on Fire in Ohio Town

Monday, January 29th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

GEORGETOWN, Ohio (AP) â€” Several buildings, including the offices of a century-old newspaper, were destroyed by fire early Monday in a historic downtown section of this southern Ohio town. No injuries were reported.

More than 100 firefighters from two counties battled the blaze in a group of late 19-century bulidings that house offices, apartments, and the town's newspaper, the News-Democrat.

``It was pretty devastating. It burned everything,'' said the newspaper's publisher, Steve Triplett. ``If you look at that block as a whole, there are only about two buildings on each end that were not destroyed.''

Triplett said about eight businesses were affected by the fire. The fire will not prevent regular twice-weekly publication of the newspaper, which will be assembled at other plants, he said.

Officials said four families who lived above the burned buildings had been displaced. The cause of the fire was not immediately determined.

The town, 40 miles east of Cincinnati, has about 3,500 residents.