KMPH Fox 26 Central San Joaquin Valley News Source in Fresno, California Entertainment, News, Sports and Weather | Fire Destroys Buildings, Forces Evacuation at Dos Palos High

Fire Destroys Buildings, Forces Evacuation at Dos Palos High

By: Ashley Ritchie

It was a typical Thursday afternoon on the Dos Palos High School campus.

"The bell had just rung from lunch and immediately within a minute after the bell rang for lunch, the fire alarm went off," Dos Palos Assistant Superintendent Jan Wood, said.

Senior Eduardo Guzman was preparing for his class as a teacher's assistant, when his plans suddenly changed.

"They had us over here, in this area here, inside here. But then they told us to go out to that parking lot over there," Guzman said.

And when he finally looked up at his school, what he saw shocked him.

"Black smoke, thick black smoke covered the whole area here," Guzman said.

"We showed up on scene and 50% of the woodshop, commercial structure that you see in front of you was heavily involved," Cal Fire Battalion Chief Kevin Lawson said.

Lawson says the fire started in the school's woodshop, and because of the room's contents, it didn't take long to keep it moving.

"A lot of the chemicals, the wood and the combustible material that is stored inside that structure definitely accelerates the fire once it gets established," Lawson said.

Fire crews say the woodshop building and most of the industrial art building are a complete loss and they estimate the damage to be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

But for a high school built for more than 50 years ago, the loss is more than bricks and mortar.

"There was some history destroyed absolutely," Wood said.

In spite of the smoldering wreckage, administrators say they're grateful.

"You never wish for something like this, no. What I do wish for is that everybody was safe and they were," Wood said.

As for Eduardo Guzman, it's a part of his senior year he won't soon forget.

"Probably not even in school history it hasn't happened here, probably the first time," he said.

And as the walls are reduced to a shell and some classrooms are a complete loss, what started out as a typical Thursday afternoon at Dos Palos High, became a day that changed the school's history.

Administrators say class will resume Friday as scheduled.

They'll just relocate the classes that were destroyed Thursday.

And fire crews say there's no word yet on what caused this fire.

63 fire fighters were on scene to battle the fire.