About 900 students left Edgemont Junior/Senior High School Thursday morning after a fire in the utility tunnels beneath campus prompted a full evacuation and the cancellation of classes. No injuries were reported. Firefighters brought the blaze under control by mid-morning after entering the tunnels to reach it.
According to cedarnews.net, students were initially sent to an upper field and then moved to nearby Seely Place Elementary School. The outlet described the incident as an electrical fire, but officials have said the cause remains under investigation.
Greenville Fire District Chief Gus Spedaliere told Yahoo News that firefighters arrived around 7:10 a.m. after facilities engineers noticed smoke in the administration building. Crews followed the smoke to utility passageways connecting campus buildings and encountered heavy smoke inside.
Reaching the Fire Required a Confined-Space Response
Firefighters advanced about 300 feet into the tunnel, according to the same account, before conditions required them to use confined-space equipment, hose lines and an air supply. Spedaliere said the fire was under control by 10:30 a.m. No students, staff members or firefighters were reported injured.
Crews from Greenville, Fairview, Hartsdale, Scarsdale, Eastchester, New Rochelle and White Plains responded, according to Daily Voice, along with police and EMS personnel. Employees activated the fire alarm after smoke was discovered. Spedaliere said crews first tried to spray water from a distance, then entered the confined tunnel with specialized rescue gear to extinguish the fire.
Classes Canceled; Friday Return Expected
Edgemont Junior and Senior High School canceled classes Thursday, Oct. 1, while crews cleared the scene and assessed the tunnel system, according to The Journal News. Daily Voice reported that the school was expected to reopen Friday, Oct. 2; that return was an expectation, not an independently confirmed reopening.
What the District’s Facilities Plan Says
The district’s FY2022-2023 five-year facilities plan says voters approved a $54.2 million investment in facilities improvements in May 2021, according to Edgemont Union Free School District. The cited plan summary does not specify which high school systems were upgraded or provide the age or condition of the tunnel infrastructure.
Edgemont school district officials did not immediately respond to Daily Voice's request for comment. Spedaliere said the cause of the fire remains under investigation; it was not immediately clear what ignited the blaze in the tunnel system.
