A Milwaukee elementary school on the south side of the city caught fire early Tuesday, June 30, prompting a five-alarm response.
Calls for the fire came in around 3 a.m., Milwaukee Fire Chief Aaron Lipski said. Initial reports were uncertain where the fire was located, due to heavy smoke in the area, but once on scene, firefighters determined it was at Lincoln Avenue School, 1817 W. Lincoln Ave.
Lipski said the school did not have fire sprinklers or working fire alarms.
Firefighters initially tried to fight the fire inside the building, but determined it was unsafe, Lipski said.
“They started having fire burning right through the floor underneath them … then all of a sudden, commanders outside see heavy fire blowing through the roof, and they decided nah, it’s in too many different spots,” he said.
Instead, firefighters have been using aerial hoses and other “heavy weaponry” to combat the flames from the exterior of the building, Lipski said. As of around 8 a.m., Lipski said the fire is largely knocked down, but crews will remain on scene for hours.
“When you have so much of the interior of the building collapse in on itself, water can’t get directly to all the pockets of fire,” he said. “So it’s going to take us a while to pick through all that, just keep hammering it.”
A newer addition to the building, a two-story section on the school’s north end, remained untouched by the fire, with help of crews at the scene, Lipski said.
However, he said the rest of the school is likely a total loss. He added that the department so far has not been able to determine how or where the fire originated in the building.
No one was injured in the fire, Lipski said.
Milwaukee Recreation shared on Facebook that summer programming held at Lincoln Avenue School’s Community Learning Center will be moved to Hayes Bilingual School, 971 W. Windlake Ave., through July 31.
The blaze comes amid a sweltering, dayslong heat wave in Milwaukee and the surrounding areas.
This story has been updated with new information.
Contact Kelli Arseneau at (920) 213-3721 or karseneau@gannett.com. Follow her on X at @ArseneauKelli.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee elementary school a total loss after massive overnight fire
Reporting by Kelli Arseneau and Steven Martinez, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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By Kelli Arseneau and Steven Martinez, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
