Delaware County school looks to uncertain future after fire ravages building

SPRINGFIELD TOWNSHIP, Pa. (KYW Newsradio) — A Delaware County community is picking up the pieces after a massive fire ripped through a nearly 100-year-old school on Monday .

It was shortly after 5 p.m. when authorities received a call about a fire at one of the St. Francis of Assisi school buildings in Springfield Township, according to principal Nicole Hamilton.

“Nobody was in the building at the time at all. It was completely empty. Everyone was gone for the day. That’s a blessing in itself,” she told KYW Newsradio.

Hamilton says first responders were quick to get to the scene of the fire at the school. “Tons of people, firefighters,” said Hamilton. “It was an amazing thing to see, but very overwhelming.”

For the principal, it was a mixed bag of emotions as she watched flames ravage the building. “[I felt] overwhelmed, sad,” she said. “The memories that you think about, the students and their things inside but [it was] also very heartfelt to see the amount of people in the community that reached out, came out, wanted to help or just be there.”

The brick of the building, founded in 1929, still stood strong on Tuesday, but the broken windows and smell of smoke indicated just how powerful the multi-alarm fire was. Authorities are still investigating the cause of the fire.

“We just celebrated our 100th anniversary as a parish this past year, so it really hits hard,” said Hamilton.

For the rest of the week, she says, school is canceled for its 320 students who range from pre-kindergarten to eighth grade.

“Then we will reassess later in the week to see what’s happening, so my job the next few days is to figure out where we’re putting everybody, where are we going, what are we doing,” she said.

As for community help, Hamilton says prayers are needed, “because we have so much to figure out at the moment, and what we need.”

In a statement, Philadelphia Archbishop Nelson Perez said, “In the midst of these challenges, we raise our voices in thanksgiving to God that there was no loss of life and that no one was injured as a result of the fire.”