2-Alarm Fire Breaks Out At Vacant Silver Spring Elementary School

SILVER SPRING, MD — A two-alarm fire broke out Tuesday night at the vacant JoAnn Leleck Elementary School in Silver Spring, authorities said.

Montgomery County firefighters responded to the blaze at the school located on Beacon Road around 9 p.m., spokesperson Pete Piringer said on social media. Upon arrival, firefighters found heavy flames coming from the building.

“I have smoke coming out of the attic. It’s definitely on fire,” one responding firefighter reported, according to public radio transmissions obtained by MoCo360.

Firefighters remained on scene for several hours, Piringer said. The fire was "venting from (the) roof" and access to the flames was "difficult," which required aerial operations, Piringer said.

In an 8 a.m. update, Piringer said firefighters had contained the blaze and would remain on scene to work with demolition crews.

No one was injured in the blaze, authorities said.

The vacant school at 710 Beacon Road was slated to be replaced with a new building, Montgomery County Public Schools spokesperson Liliana Lopez told MoCo360. The current home of JoAnn Leleck Elementary School at Broad Acres is at the Fairland Center at 13313 Old Columbia Pike in Silver Spring.

“We don’t know the cause of the fire,” Lopez told the publication.

The blaze remains under investigation.