Montgomery County Fire and Rescue Service (MCFRS) crews were still containing a fire at the former JoAnn Leleck Elementary School building at Broad Acres in Silver Spring as of Wednesday afternoon, according to authorities.
“We’re going to be there until we’re confident the fire is out,” MCFRS Chief Corey Smedley said during County Executive Marc Elrich’s press briefing on Wednesday afternoon. Smedley reported there were no injuries to any community members or first responders.
Crews responded Tuesday night to a two-alarm fire at the building at 710 Beacon Road, which is not currently operating as a school. According to MCFRS spokesperson Pete Piringer, more than 1 million gallons of water had been poured on the fire as of Wednesday morning. The sprinkler system was turned off since the school was being prepped for demolition, he said.
Smedley said that due to the structure of the building, some parts of the structure where the fire is contained are difficult to reach and will require crews to demolish parts of the building so firefighters can get inside and put out the fire. In the meantime, crews will remain on site preventing the spread of the fire.
“You will see activity until we can demolish it to a safe state,” Smedley said.
According to Smedley, the unoccupied school was set to be demolished, but the fire escalated the process. He said the goal is to secure the building enough to prevent people from getting in and getting hurt and that the department is working in “lockstep” with Montgomery County Public Schools (MCPS).
Construction of the new building was already underway when the fire already started, according to MCPS spokesperson Liliana Lopez, who added that students had been attending classes at the Fairland Center in Silver Spring (13313 Old Columbia Pike) since the start of the school year.
“Once the fire is extinguished, we will assess the extent of the damage and evaluate any potential impacts on the construction timeline,” Lopez said in a statement.
Smedley said the cause of the fire is still unknown, adding that the investigation process will begin once the fire is completely extinguished.
Piringer posted on social media that construction vehicles were beginning to arrive at the site around 1:30 p.m. Wednesday afternoon.
“Heavy equipment is en-route & beginning to arrive, the General Contractor has 2 excavators … Heavy equipment will be used to allow firefighters better access to existing hotspots, fire is contained,” Piringer wrote.
