Early morning fire destroys classrooms at Thompson elementary school

A fire at an elementary school in the northern Manitoba city of Thompson destroyed a classroom area Wednesday morning, asfirefighters worked to save the rest of the building.

Thefire at Westwood Elementary School started around 3:30 a.m., said Ian Graham, a communications officer for the City of Thompson.

"There'ssome thick black smoke coming off the building andfirefightersare still fighting the firetrying to control the flames andprevent the whole entire building from being destroyed," he told CBC shortly before noon.

No injuries were reported, but theclassroomarea wascompletely destroyed by the fire, whichis believed to have started in an electrical panel, and firefighters wereworking to save the school'sgymnasium, he said.

Equipment operators with excavators were also trying to separate the two parts of the school sothe fire wouldn't spread from one to the other.

At this point, it doesn't look like students will be going to classes there this September, Graham said, "but we won't really know until the fire is out."

In a social media post, the Mystery Lake School Division said the fire at the kindergarten to Grade 8 school will have an impact on the September startup of classes, butmore details will be released at a later time.

The fire sent thick, black smoke into the air, prompting thecityto warnresidents inthe area to take precautions.

In astatement on its website, the city said people living near theschool, on Mallard Crescentparticularly those with respiratory issues should remain inside with windows closed to reduce exposure to the smoke, and also recommendedkeeping pets inside to avoid exposure to the smoke.

The city also saidWestwood-area residents may experience low or no water pressure on Wednesday due to the firefighting efforts.

Thompson residents were also asked to stay away from the school areato avoid interfering with firefighting efforts.