WACO, Texas — Waco Independent School District said the extent of good news in the fire that destroyed G.W. Carver Middle School is that it happened when no on was on campus.
On Monday, some staff at the middle school were working to prepare for the upcoming school year and there was some maintenance work being done inside and outside the school. That still doesn't answer to how the fire was started overnight.
The Certified Fire Investigation (CFI) division of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF) were requested to assist with the investigation and were at the scene with Waco Fire Marshals.
Both departments were on site trying to get to the ground level where any evidence of the origin or cause of the fire would be on Wednesday. They still have a lot of debris to sort through with the roof falling in, but investigators suggest the fire started around the front office or library area, according to a release from the city.
"We have a lot of debris that's on top of a lot of our evidence and so we're trying to get to the ground level" said Lt. Keith Guillory with the Waco Fire Department.
ATF is able to offer extra resources to help figure out what really happened.
"We're partnering with the ATF because they have fire investigators," said Lt. Guillory. "With the structure that's this size that's pretty standard, we normally partner with the ATF of the State Fire Marshals Office because both agencies have fire investigators."
Lt. Guillory told 6 News it could be as soon as today or next week when they have more answers as to what caused the fire, it just depends on what the patterns give them with the evidence they have.
The most shocking news of the fire -- no automated sprinkler system. However, the building was still up to code.
"When the building was built, it was built under a different standard," said Lt. Guillory.
The original campus of G.W. Carver Middle School was built back in the 1950s and back then the code did not require sprinklers. Although the school didn't have an automated sprinkler system, there were other fire protection measures in place across the campus.
"It did have fire protection as far as smoke alarms and sensors and the fire alarm panel, and the things that it needed," Lt. Guillory explained. "It even had fire doors inside the structure, fire walls and things like that."
A spokesperson for Waco ISD said a fire wall is what actually saved a portion of the front of the structure from significant fire damage. They do suspect it has smoke and water damage though.
The fire also highlights why the school was being considered to be rebuilt.
"You had a campus that didn't really provide a modern education environment for our students, but also in some important way was even less safe than our modern campuses too," said Waco ISD Chief of Staff Kyle DeBeer.
DeBeer tells 6 News most of the district's campuses don't have automated sprinkler systems. The four newest campuses do and two campus' newer additions have them as well.
"That's one of the things we're looking at as we look at facility needs across the district is how building codes have changed, how education has changed," DeBeer explained.
Waco ISD is looking to move forward to build the Carver campus back up.
Sixty-eight firefighter crews and 23 fire units from the Waco Fire Department responded to the overnight fire at G.W. Carver Middle School, the City of Waco revealed in a news release Wednesday.
Waco Fire initially responded to the school on J.J. Flewellen Road with only 23 crews and nine units around 1 a.m. Tuesday after a security guard saw smoke and called.
The city said within a short period of time, they determined the fire was moving rapidly through the building's attic when Waco Fire arrived, resulting in them calling for more assistance, resulting in the nearly 70 firefighters.
No firefighters were injured.
The city confirmed what Waco ISD said regarding the school being a loss and that the damage is estimated to be worth millions.
