A "four-alarm blaze" severely burned one third of East Somerville Community School in the early morning of Dec. 9, forcing the school to close and students to miss classes, according to Gretchen Kinder at the Office of the Superintendent of Somerville public schools.
"There are approximately 34 classrooms that have been relocated," Kinder said of the elementary school. "We had students back in classes 10 days later on the 19th."
A total of 545 students have been relocated to classrooms in three locations. Kindergarten students were placed at the Capuano Early Childhood Center, students in grades one through five were transferred to the Edgerly Education Center, and students in grades six through eight were sent to the Cummings School.
Over 10 classrooms are unusable. A comprehensive assessment of every classroom is underway to determine what is salvageable, Kinder said.
It was "fortunate that we had some empty classroom space that was available" in other schools, as it allowed officials to keep classes intact, albeit in different locations, Kinder said. Students stayed with the same classmates and teachers, and the majority of students were relocated to classroom spaces within two blocks of the Somerville East Community School.
The cause of the fire has not been officially determined, but the blaze "appears to be non-suspicious," Kinder said. The fire may have resulted from a malfunctioning heating unit, she said.
"The fire started in room 108 of the school, and that's in the southeast quadrant of the building," Kinder said. "That quadrant has essentially been rendered useless."
Although the structural engineering assessment is currently incomplete, the fire seems to have been hot enough to melt concrete and twist the steel beams.
Additionally, due to the high concentration of paper and other extremely flammable material in the school, a "one inch thick coating of ash [settled] on everything throughout the school building" as the soot and ash traveled through the heating duct system, Kinder said.
Since the blaze, the school has been doing "an enormous amount of fundraising," she said. About $7,000 has been raised to help support teachers in rebuilding classrooms, and with help from volunteers and donors throughout the community, the school will provide all students with goodie bags containing school supplies.
The Chamber of Commerce will host a fundraiser on Jan. 17 at the Holiday Inn in Somerville.
Mayor Joseph Curtatone has pledged to rebuild the school. But "no one has any idea at this stage in the game" what that entails, Kinder said.
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