[wpgmappity id=”349″]
DAGUPAN CITY, Philippines – A two-hour fire razed a building at the Bayambang Central Elementary School in Bayambang, Pangasinan, early Wednesday, police and school officials said.
Police Officer 2 Ryan Lerma, Bayambang police investigator, said no one was reported hurt when the fire destroyed the school’s Gabaldon building at about 1:45 a.m.
Danilo Lopez, a teacher at the BCES, said the building, constructed in 1921, had 12 classrooms and was being used by 12 classes of Grades 1 and 2 pupils. The school has at least 2,000 students.
Lerma said a security guard at a shopping mall across the road from BCES reported seeing sparks from an electrical wire in the building minutes before the fire.
Bayambang Councilor Levin Uy said the municipal government has put up makeshift classrooms for the displaced pupils.
Lopez said classes for BCES’ Grades 1 and 2 pupils were suspended Wednesday and will resume on Thursday.