Whitefield Elementary School students got dismissed early Friday after a small fire started in the school gym.

The fire comes just over a year after a similar gym fire was reported there. That too resulted in some time off from school and damage to a small part of the gym floor. The early-morning fire on March 10, 2014, was extinguished by the janitor.

On Friday, shortly before 11 a.m., Superintendent Howard Tuttle said he had few details about the fire except that it was out and that firefighters remained at the school.

The students were taken next door to the Calvary Baptist Church and were to be dismissed at 11:15 a.m., the superintendent said. “We sent out a phone/email and text alert to the parents. The space is fine for an evacuation but we can’t keep them there for the next three hours.”

Normal dismissal time is 2:30 p.m.

The gym doubles as a cafeteria for the school, which has 180 students in kindergarten through eighth grade and about 35 people on staff.

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Whitefield Elementary School on Grand Army Road is part of Sheepscot Valley Regional School Unit 12.

Firefighters from several departments responded to a report of smoke in the gym at the school.

Town Clerk Aaron Miller, who was nearby at the Town Office, said that no smoke was visible and firefighters have been on the scene since before 10:15 a.m.

Staff photographer Joe Phelan contributed to this report.


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