Town of Warrenton devastated after fire damages downtown building

Multiple fire departments responded to the fire on Thursday morning.

The building on fire was a local Italian restaurant named Milano's Restaurant.

The brick building had been a mainstay on the intersection of Main and Macon since the early 1900s.

Mayor Walter Gardner doubles as the town's fire chief, and he spoke to WRAL News Friday afternoon.

"Certainly the loss of a business to a small town is always a tragic thing," he said.

Milano's, and Warrenton as a whole, had already been hit hard economically by the coronavirus shutdown.

Milano's had plans to relocate locally in the near future, leaving open new possibilities for the building that used to house a department store called Rose's.