The headquarters of the Diocese of West Tennessee in Memphis sustained heavy damage Aug. 24 when fire spread through the century-old building.

Nearly 90 firefighters and 20 pieces of equipment fought the blaze and were able to prevent it from spreading to the adjacent St. Mary's Cathedral. The two-alarm fire collapsed the roof over the rear of the three-story stone building, which once served as a residence of the bishop. It now contains offices for both the diocese and the cathedral.

"Everything is gone," the Very Rev. C.B. Baker, dean of the cathedral, told the Memphis Commerical Appeal. "Books, notes, financial records, sermon materials, everything." A few persons were in the building when the fire broke out, but no one was injured.

The Rt. Rev. James Coleman, Bishop of West Tennessee, was out of town when the incident took place.

The newspaper reported that the diocese had begun renovating the building, and workers removing paint from exterior window frames had used blowtorches.

R.S. Mosby, chief of emergency operations for the Memphis fire department, told the Commercial Appeal the cause of the fire was under investigation. He said firefighters found flames on the third floor and needed aerial equipment to extinguish them.

Some furniture, records and other items were removed by firefighters from the office building and taken to the cathedral.

Among the persons evacuated were children participating in an after-school program which was in its second day of operation in the basement of the cathedral. A parent who was picking up a child from that program around 4 p.m. was one of the first to report the fire.

Some water drained into the cathedral's basement, which was recently renovated.