Fire damages East St. Louis Senior High School building

A fire Tuesday night caused minor damage to the west side of the East St. Louis Senior High School on State Street.

The East St. Louis Fire Department received a call about the fire at 10:47 p.m., according to Assistant Fire Chief Edward Wayne. It took about 20 minutes for firefighters to extinguish the blaze.

The fire, believed to have started outside, caused smoke damage, and the heat burst a couple of windows in the building, Wayne said.

He said sprinklers kept the fire from going any further past the outside wall, he said.

The cause of the fire is unknown and is under investigation. There were no injuries.

The fire was ``contained to an area of the Career and Technical Education wing of campus,” Sydney Stigge-Kaufman, executive director of communications and strategic partnerships, stated in a letter to staff

The fire happened one day before the high school was scheduled to hold its graduation ceremony. Graduation and classes are happening as planned.

“The classrooms affected by the incident will be relocated to other areas in the building,” Stigge-Kaufman stated.

This story was originally published May 24, 2023 at 12:32 AM.