|
 |
| Firefighters on the ground
battle the blaze at the Glynn Academy Annex at about 7:30 a.m. Friday. (Ivana
Popovic/The Brunswick News) |
Classes canceled; damage to
annex severe
Glynn County school officials planned
an emergency meeting Friday afternoon to discuss what to do about the Glynn
Academy Annex building that was heavily damaged by fire earlier in the day.
The fire in the building at Mansfield
and Albany streets started overnight, possibly by a lightning strike, while no
students were present and ignited before the school day began, fire officials
said.
Brunswick firefighters were among the
first to notice flames shooting from the roof of the building, used as a
freshman center, at about 5:30 a.m. Friday after smoke surrounded their station
nearby on Gloucester Street, downtown.
All classes on the Glynn Academy
campus were canceled Friday, but will resume Monday, said Delacy Sanford, Glynn
County schools assistant superintendent of administrative services.
Brunswick firefighters, who do not
have an aerial truck, initially called for help from Glynn County firefighters
and their ladder truck.
A group of city and county
firefighters, led by Brunswick Chief Lee Stewart, went to the building's second
story, but were called back by the sound of an emergency horn to warn them that
flames had jumped from the roof.
"We couldn't see what they could
(outside the building)," Stewart said. "It was a smart move (to evacuate)."
No injuries were reported during the
fire that was thought to have begun at about 2 a.m. in the attic of the
building. Heavy rain and lightning moved over the mainland and St. Simons Island
Thursday, beginning at about 6:45 p.m.
Firefighters had flames under control
at the building constructed in 1889 by about 7 a.m. and remained at the school
all morning.
The Albany Street side of the
building, a structure made of heart pine wood and brick, began to crumble from
the top after several hours of firefighting.
Police backed up the crowd of
onlookers that had assembled on campus, fearful that the side of the two-story
building would collapse. Water from firefighting hoses could be seen pouring out
of the bricks and mortar.
The flames coming out of the roof
caused major damage to the interior and exterior of the building.
Glynn County school board Chair
LaVerne Cooper, who watched firefighters battle the blaze, said she arrived to
the school as soon as she heard about the fire.
"Flames were just leaping up to the
sky," Cooper said. "It really burned."
Cooper called an emergency meeting at
the board's Egmont Street office for 4 p.m. Friday to discuss insurance and
other issues related to the fire.
Glynn Academy Principal Joseph Barrow
said the building contained student lockers and some staff members' personal
belongings.
State inspectors will be brought in
to assess the interior damage.
Glynn Academy has an enrollment of
1,685 students, which includes 513 ninth graders.
Related:
The
Brunswick News: "Brunswick
News Photo Gallery: Glynn Academy Fire"
Florida
Times Union: "Fire
at historic Glynn Academy", "Alumni
take on Academy fire: rebuild"
News4Jax.com: "Fire
Damages Historic Building At Glynn Academy"
First Coast News:
"Fire
Tears Through Historic School Building"
GCFD
Photo Album: "Glynn
Academy Fire"
|
