Extra-alarm fire breaks out in shuttered West Side Chicago elementary school
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A fire broke out Monday evening in a shuttered elementary school on the Near West Side.
The Fire Department called a 2-11 response for extra equipment and manpower for the fire at the old R. Nathaniel Dett Elementary School, at 2306 W. Maypole Ave.
A 2-11 alarm brings 32 pieces of equipment and just short of 100 firefighters.
The Fire Department also called an EMS Plan 1 for five ambulances – but there was no immediate word on injuries.
Photos from the scene showed a haze of smoke pouring out of the shuttered school into the courtyard.
It was not immediately clear how the fire started.
Dett was among 50 Chicago public schools the city closed in 2013. The Dett Elementary School name is still in use at what was formerly the Victor Herbert Elementary School, at 2131 W. Monroe St. – but the old school building has sat vacant ever since.
In 2017, then-Mayor Rahm Emanuel's office announced plans to sell the former school and have it turned into a women and girls' resource center for the area – but published reports said the deal for the sale was never closed.