Firefighters from multiple agencies rushed to West Side Elementary School in Laurel Hollow after an automatic fire alarm sounded around 4:40 a.m.
When crews arrived at the Laurel Hollow Road campus, they found flames burning through the building, with heavy fire pushing through the roof as firefighters began attacking the blaze.
The fire appears to have started in the school’s library, where flames spread through books and paper stored in the area, the Atlantic Steamer Fire Department told CBS New York.
The fire was upgraded to a third alarm as crews worked to contain it. About 150 volunteer firefighters from several surrounding communities responded to the scene.
Officials said the flames were largely contained to the library and a community room located beneath it. Firefighters were able to bring the blaze under control in roughly two hours.
No students had arrived on campus when the fire started, and officials reported no injuries.
The building does not have a sprinkler system because one was not required when the school was originally constructed, ABC7 reports.
School officials said the damaged wing of the building is more than 230 years old and holds significant local history. According to community lore, George Washington stopped at the site in 1790 while the area’s first schoolhouse was being built and helped raise one of the structure’s rafters.
West Side Elementary serves about 220 students. The school is closed Tuesday, and district officials said there will be no remote learning for the day.
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