A fire is contained after flames broke out at a vacant elementary school in Silver Spring, Maryland, on Tuesday night, according to fire officials.
Montgomery County firefighters battled flames and smoke into Wednesday morning at JoAnn Leleck Elementary School, which is vacant and scheduled to be demolished.
Montgomery County Executive Marc Elich said Wednesday morning no injuries were reported following the fire. An investigation into what caused the flames will start after it’s fully extinguished.
The two-alarm fire spread so much smoke in the area that the first call received around 9 p.m. led firefighters to Eastern Middle School, about three-quarters a mile away, on University Boulevard East at Franklin Avenue, according to Montgomery County Fire and Rescue.
Firefighters who responded to Eastern Middle School found no fire at the site and backtracked the smoke to the vacant Leleck Elementary at 710 Beacon Road, where they found flames coming through the roof of the building, the department’s spokesman Pete Piringer told WTOP.
The former school had been vacated with plans to replace it with a bigger school that could accommodate the growing student population.
Firefighters will be working with demolition crews on Wednesday, Piringer said.
Piringer said 95 firefighters from Montgomery and neighboring Prince George’s counties responded to the scene.
He said the fire, which appears to have started in a classroom area, was “venting from (the) roof” and difficult for firefighters to access.
While most of the flames were out by midnight, Piringer said firefighters remained “engaged in active firefighting operations” into early Wednesday morning.
9/24 Joann Leleck ES at Broad Acres, Beacon Dr, unoccupied building under construction/demolition, heavy fire conditions upon arrival, no injuries pic.twitter.com/hVwgNeY6ap
— Pete Piringer (@mcfrsPIO) September 25, 2024
WTOP’s Jessica Kronzer contributed to this report.
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