MONTREAL – Students at Laurentian Regional High School in Lachute are getting the day off Thursday after a fire ravaged the adjacent French school, Ecole Polyvalente Lavigne, Wednesday morning.
Both schools were evacuated, with the 760 students at Laurentian Regional brought to nearby Laurentian Elementary school where they spent the afternoon, said Maxeen Jolin, a spokesperson for the Sir Wilfrid Laurier School Board.
There was no damage to the English school, said Lachute fire chief Pierre Morand, as some 100 firefighters from six municipalities managed to contain the fire within the walls of the French school.
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But a “ped day” was called at short notice given the likely odour of smoke inside the halls.
It is not clear how long the 2,000 students at Ecole Polyvalente Lavigne might be off, however.
Morand told The Gazette that welders were working on the roof of the school, and that’s where the fire started. At least seven classrooms, the library and the gymnasium were severely damaged. Half the school now has water damage.
Morand said the school directors are hoping to re-open the school on Monday, but some of the classes will have to be housed elsewhere, possibly in mobile classrooms while the damage is being repaired.
A notice on the website of the Riviere-du-Nord School board says only that students’ personal effects left in the building would be taken care of Thursday morning, and that parents should check back for updates on the situation.
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