No Injuries Reported From Arrowsmith School Structure Fire

No injuries were sustained from Monday’s Arrowsmith School structure fire as reported by the Douro-Dummer Fire Services (DDFS).

Arrowsmith School is a private school for kids with learning disabilites from Grades 1 to 12. It was originally founded in 1980 by Barbara Arrowsmith Young in Toronto. Peterborough was its second location in May 2005 but closed on June 2021. Photo by David Tuan Bui.

DDFS received a call about the incident at 2:19 a.m. and observed that the fire had spread through the second storey of the structure, with flames visible above the roof.

Over 25 DDFS firefighters in the early hours extinguished the initial fire and fought the hotspots into the afternoon. DDFS have not determined the cause of the fire and the monetary loss to the property.

The building was not occupied at the time of the fire. A residence west of the structure was evacuated as a precaution and the occupants were able to return to their home the same day.

@ptbo_canada Arrowsmith School devestated by early-morning fire on July 14. Cause of fire currently unknown… #ptbocanada #ptbo #peterborough #journalism #journalist #news #fyp #fire ♬ original sound - PTBOCanada

Parkhill Road East was closed to traffic from the Parkhill Swing Bridge to the intersection of Television Road and County Road 4/Parkhill Road East for the duration of the incident.

“DDFS crews responded quickly and worked hard to bring the fire under control, and as a result the fire did not spread to nearby structures,” said Deputy Fire Chief Huffman. “We are grateful for the time and effort that our firefighters dedicate to preparing for events like this.”

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Overnight Structure Fire Devastates Arrowsmith School

A structure fire has caused significant damage to the Arrowsmith School building which started early Monday morning.

Arrowsmith School is a private school for kids with learning disabilites from Grades 1 to 12. It was originally founded in 1980 by Barbara Arrowsmith Young in Toronto. Peterborough was its second location in May 2005 but closed on June 2021. Photo by David Tuan Bui.

Located at 266 Parkhill Rd., Peterborough OPP had closed Parkhill Road between Leahy’s Lane and Kingsdale Drive as firefighters dealt with the flames early Monday morning.

Douro-Dummer Fire Department removed police tape at the scene and left the school around 4 p.m. on Monday.

The cause of the fire is unknown at this time. We will continue to update the story as more details develop.

@ptbo_canada Arrowsmith School devestated by early-morning fire on July 14. Cause of fire currently unknown… #ptbocanada #ptbo #peterborough #journalism #journalist #news #fyp #fire ♬ original sound - PTBOCanada

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