An overnight fire that destroyed Lincoln Avenue School in Milwaukee was caused by solvent-soaked cleaning rags that ignited inside a plastic trash can, Milwaukee Fire Chief Aaron Lipski said at a Monday morning news conference.
No one was hurt or killed in the fire, which began just before 3 a.m. on June 30. Lincoln Avenue School was deemed a total loss after the fire.
Lipski said Milwaukee Public Schools provided video from indoor surveillance systems that helped the fire department's investigators determine the fire began in the northeast part of the building on the second floor.
Crews that were cleaning and waxing the floors inside the school disposed of rags in a plastic trash can throughout the day on June 29, Lipski says. As more rags were added to the trash can, the temperature inside the can rose, which caused the rags inside to combust.
Lipski says that video of the area provided by the school district shows smoke coming from the trash can about 30 minutes before the first calls came into the fire department.
Fire doors that were propped open and gusts of air that came through windows that were left open to ventilate the area being cleaned helped the fire spread, Lipski said. The hot and humid weather contributed to the fire's spread inside the brick building, he said.
The building's fire alarm system was activated and fire crews were on-scene within five minutes of the first reports, according to fire department records.
Lipski said the fight against the fire was made more difficult because desks and classroom furniture crowded the hallways for summer cleaning. The roof of the 107-year-old school caved in as the fire escalated and crews were evacuated.
"By 4:31 a.m., the fire had escalated to the fifth alarm and beyond, the fire fight carried on throughout the daylight hours with [the Milwaukee Fire Department] sustaining a fire watch over the following night until about 7 a.m. on Wednesday, July 1," Lipski said.
Fire crews sprayed water from outside in order to finally put the fire out. No homes or nearby businesses were heavily damaged, Lipski said. He added that fire crews sprayed water on embers that drifted from the site in order to avoid damage to surrounding homes.
Milwaukee Public Schools superintendent shares new training for school cleaning crews after fire
Milwaukee Public Schools Superintendent Dr. Brenda Cassellius said the school will be demolished, and that the district has received its first insurance payment to help with the demolition and cleanup.
She added that custodial staff have been trained to dispose of cleaning cloths in metal trash cans and close windows and fire doors before leaving a work site. Cassellius said that cleaning and custodial staff will no longer use oil-based chemicals when the temperature outside is higher than 85 degrees.
"We worked immediately with our facilities team to provide training and updates to our procedures to reduce the risk of anything like this happening again," Cassellius said.
Lincoln Avenue School did not have a modern fire sprinkler system, and Lipski said a sprinkler system would have spared the school from destruction. Cassellius noted that the district is looking at long-range planning to assess how it could add sprinkler systems to school buildings.
The cost to retrofit older buildings with modern sprinkler systems would likely top $1 million per school, Cassellius said.
After the demolition, Cassellius said the district will consider rebuilding on the Lincoln site.
Lincoln Avenue students will attend Pulaski High school during 2026-27 school year
The more than 400 students who attended Lincoln Avenue Elementary will now take classes at Casimir Pulaski High School when the new school year begins on Sept. 1.
The high school, located less than two miles south of the former Lincoln campus, is uniquely qualified to host students from different schools. Until just this spring, both Pulaski students and students from the charter Carmen Schools of Science and Technology co-existed in the building. In the fall, Carmen students are moving to a new campus of their own.
Lincoln Principal Damaris Ayala shared Monday that Lincoln students will have their own entryways and take classes on the ground floor and second floor of Pulaski High School.
She said her school community is excited to stay together in a new school and is ready to take on the challenges that come their way.
"Part of that trauma piece is to be together, verbalize how we feel and what would make our Lincoln Avenue community whole again," Ayala said. "So when they talk about possible rebuilding, that excites me."
