9:30pm update, by Julia Reischel:
The early-morning fire that destroyed part of the former Fleischmanns School today was probably sparked by an electrical problem in the basement of the building, Fleischmanns fire chief Todd Wickham said this evening. Arson has been ruled out as a possible cause.
"We can't say exactly what it was, but we do believe it was electrical," Wickham said. "It wasn't arson."
Wickham said that the school building is owned by a Jewish organization that uses it as a summer school for 128 children. The group had planned to open the school for the summer season in two weeks, he said.
"They're now trying to relocate," he said.
Seventeen fire departments responded to the blaze, which began around 4:30am, Wickham said. The responding departments were Arkville, Margaretville, Margaretville Auxiliary, Pine Hill, Shandaken, Bovina, Roxbury, Stamford, Grand George, Franklin, Worcester, Big Indian, Phoenicia, Halcottsville, Arena, Andes, and Delhi.
It took the responders about four hours to control the fire, he said. He added that there were no injuries, and that no one was inside the building when it ignited.
Wickham estimated that about 45 percent of the school structure had been destroyed. Two buildings were involved in the blaze, he said, and one, a wooden structure built in 1909, was totally destroyed. An excavator brought in today finished off the job as it aided the investigation.
Another structure, an Art Deco-style building that was built in 1935, survived the fire with significant water and smoke damage, Wickham said.
Original story, by Lissa Harris:
A fire ripped through the former Fleischmanns school building early this morning, causing massive damage but no reported injuries.
According to the Daily Freeman, a call reporting the fire was received around 4:30am by Delaware County Emergency Services.
By around 11:30am, when the photos here were taken, there were no flames visible, but the building was still smoldering. Damage appeared to be concentrated on the rear of the building and the older portion of the school, built in 1909. The Art Deco brick addition, added in 1935, looked intact from the front, but evidence of smoke and water damage could be seen through the windows of the building.
Some information on the fire was posted on the Fleischmanns, NY Facebook page:
Update on the fire ... the old FHS building is pretty much destroyed. The new portion of the building is still there and has a lot of water damage. Hopefully, the newer FHS portion can be saved. And most importantly, no injuries were reported.
The Fleischmanns school district was consolidated with Margaretville in 1969. The building has not been used as a school since 1984, when all grades were moved to the Margaretville School.
Fleischmanns fire chief Todd Wickham, who we spoke with on the scene, said that his department and several other local fire departments were probably going to be at the school until late afternoon. He promised more information later in the day. We'll update this post when we know more.
