A Monday fire at the unoccupied Winter Hill Community Innovation School in Somerville is under investigation, according to a press release by the mayor’s office.
When firefighters and police arrived at a scene of flames and heavy smoke just before 9 p.m., they found three separate fires inside the school, officials said. All were put out quickly and no injuries were reported.
It took quite some time to ventilate smoke out of the building, and damage from the fires and smoke remains under assessment, the fire department said.
The causes of the fires are being investigated with the help of the State Police Fire Marshal’s Office. A call to detective Alan Monaco was not immediately returned, and fire department deputy chief Michael Avery was off duty when contacted.
The 55-year-old innovation school, which developed its own curriculum and culture to serve kindergarten through eighth grade, shuttered in June 2023 after a piece of concrete was found fallen from a stairwell ceiling. Years of demands for upgrades preceded the discovery and the permanent closing of the school that followed.
The city is working with the state school building authority, which helps design and pay for construction of public schools, on plans to either rehab or rebuild the Winter Hill and Benjamin G. Brown schools. A construction advisory group, which has met monthly since October, is scheduled to provide recommendations by the fall on the location and scope of a new or renovated school or schools.
The advisory group was meeting at the Brown School in Ball Square between 6 and 8:30 p.m. Monday, shortly before the fire was reported.
Tips about the fire can be shared anonymously with police at (617) 625-1600, Ext. 7226.
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