(Updated 10:35 p.m.) McGann-Mercy Diocesan High School will be closed tomorrow and all after-school activities have been canceled for the day, following a fire in the basement this evening.
The school expects to reopen Tuesday, spokesperson Robin Bay said in a phone interview tonight.
School officials decided to close the school tomorrow in order to clean up water and debris on site.
The electrical fire started in a refrigeration unit and did not do a lot of structural damage, Bay said, but further assessments will be conducted in the morning.
Bay said there was no issue with asbestos on the premises.
Fire chiefs concerned about that possibility ordered firefighters who’d been inside the building to be decontaminated with a fire hose, Riverhead Fire Department First Assistant Chief Kevin Brooks said tonight. “It’s no fun being hosed down with cold water in 39-degree weather, but better safe than sorry,” Brooks said.
When the school superintendent arrived on scene, he produced records certifying that there was no asbestos in the area of the fire, Brooks said.
The fire started as an electrical fire on top of a large walk-in refrigerator unit in the basement of the school, Brooks said. It burned through very thick insulation and “traveled horizontally,” he said.
“We are very grateful to the Riverhead Fire Department for their rapid response,” said the school spokesperson. “This could have been so much worse.”
About 75 firefighters and seven pieces of apparatus responded to the scene, according to the assistant chief. The automatic alarm, triggered by a hard-wired smoke detector on premises, came in to the firehouse at about 7 p.m. Firefighters were releases from the scene at 9:34 p.m. Flanders Fire Department manned Riverhead’s headquarters during the incident.
(Updated 9:38 p.m.) A spokesperson for Bishop-McGann Mercy High School said in a phone interview tonight that school officials have not yet determined whether the school will be open tomorrow.
Riverhead Fire Chief Joseph Raynor declared the fire under control at 8:45 p.m. All units were released from the scene at 9:34 p.m.
Original story:
Riverhead firefighters are fighting a fire at Bishop McGann-Mercy High School on Ostrander Avenue.
When fire chiefs responded to an automatic alarm going off at the school at about 7 p.m. they found smoke coming out from underneath doors at the rear of the building, First Assistant Chief Kevin Brooks said at the scene.
The fire started in a refrigeration room in the basement, which was filled with smoke, Brooks said.
“The fire extended to the structure above the cooling unit,” Brooks said. “We found the fire and knocked it down, but it’s being difficult. We’ve got to find the base of it,” the chief said. It was not immediately clear how much structural damage, if any has been caused to the school.
Firefighters had to don protective gear due to the possibility of asbestos in the ceiling, Brooks said.
Dozens of firefighters have responded to the call. The Riverhead fire marshal has also responded to investigate.
Flanders Fire Department volunteers responded to a call for mutual aid to stand by at Riverhead’s headquarters.
Check back later for more information on this developing story.
