Breaking News: Montgomery's Park Crossing High School is damaged by fire

MONTGOMERY, Ala. – A fire Monday night damaged a Montgomery high school, leading school authorities to cancel classes on Tuesday.

The fire broke out late Monday night at Park Crossing High School, which is located at 8000 Park Crossing in east Montgomery. The Montgomery Bureau of Investigations is conducting an inquiry, but Montgomery Public Schools spokeswoman Jade Jones believes a lightning strike is to blame.

Montgomery/Fire Rescue units arrived at the school shortly before 9:50 p.m. and discovered flames coming from the roof of the school’s southwest wing, according to MFR Assistant Fire Chief S.L. Cooper. Because of the magnitude of the structure, the fire was classified a two-alarm fire.

Firefighters brought the fire under control and extinguished it from the exterior before checking the interior for any expansion, according to Cooper. There were no injuries because no one was found during a search of the facility, which was closed by that point late in the day.

According to PCHS Principal Cheryl Fountain, MPS officials walked through the building with the fire department Monday night. The survey discovered extensive water and smoke damage. The area where the fire started is home to PCHS’s math department, ROTC, and several other classrooms.

Because the incident was restricted to one location, MPS Superintendent Melvin Brown stated that lights could still be turned on in the building. However, the school’s entrances have been closed. It is unknown when the school will physically reopen, but Brown believes operations will restart shortly.

While the damage is assessed, children will be moved to a “asynchronous learning” structure for the remainder of the week, according to Jones. Asynchronous learning implies that students will do their classwork/homework from home using a school-issued device. Students will not be required to login to their learning accounts in real time. Instead, their teachers will post their homework online, and pupils will have a set amount of time to finish them, according to Jones.

Park Crossing debuted for the 2013-14 school year as the school system’s first new high school since the 1960s. The 165,000-square-foot institution is located across a 54-acre campus with two academic wings.

The school, which has over 1,000 kids in four grade levels, contains over 45 classrooms, eight science labs, four banks of lockers, career tech centers, and teacher office space away from the classroom. It was estimated to be worth $27 million.