Early-morning fire damages modular classroom at Indiana elementary school

An early morning fire on Friday caused the roof of a modular classroom at an Indiana Borough elementary school to collapse and left the school filled with smoke, officials said.

Indiana Borough Police, who were the first to respond to Eisenhower Elementary School around 1:50 a.m., observed a working fire in several trailers at the end of the building, according to a Facebook post from the Indiana Fire Association. When fire crews arrived, they found heavy fire in two classroom buildings, officials said.

Firefighters who worked to battle the flames from inside the school found the roof collapsed in one modular classroom, and shifted efforts to keeping the fire out of the main building. Still, additional crews from Latrobe and Greensburg were brought in to “help exhaust the huge amounts of smoke that filled the school,” according to the Facebook post.

According to a post on the Indiana Area School District’s website, smoke damage was reported in the school.

The district noted that the fire was out by 5:20 a.m. Crews were on scene for about four hours, which included an extensive cleanup, officials with the Indiana Fire Association said.

The cause of the fire is being investigated by state police.

Students at the elementary school will attend classes remotely Friday, according to the district. Families are asked to monitor emails and alerts for updates on the situation.

Crews from Creekside, Homer City, Penn Run, Clymer, Black Lick and Blairsville also assisted during the incident.