UPDATE: Fire Damages Clock Tower at Gelinas Junior High, Causes Opening Delay

A fire thought to be related to overnight roof work at in Setauket damaged the school's clock tower early Thursday morning, according to school and fire officials.

Classes at Gelinas will operate Thursday with a three hour opening delay while cleanup takes place. School administrators decided around 4 a.m. to enact the delay, asking its faculty and staff members to arrive at the school by 8:30 a.m. According to the district website, school will follow a modified nine-period bell schedule.

A passerby saw smoke and flames around 12:45 a.m. and reported the fire, according to Dennis Whittam, public information officer for Suffolk County Fire Rescue and Emergency Services.

"We believe the fire started as a result of roof work being done," Whittam said. "Originally they thought it might have been arson," but that theory was ruled out.

No one was in the building at the time of the fire.

The Setauket Fire Department and Setauket Ambulance were joined at the scene by the Stony Brook Volunteer Ambulance Corp. and a ladder truck from the Port Jefferson Fire Department.

By 1:40 a.m. – exactly one hour after the clock in the tower stopped working – firefighters had extinguished the fire, which started inside the wall of the clock tower. School officials were escorted into the building to assess the damage, and gave preliminary reports of a few rooms with water inside. The exact cause of the fire is still being investigated.

Jeff Carlson, assistant superintendent for business services, said the roof work is part of a bond-funded project to replace the roofing at the district's three secondary schools, which also includes and .

Patch will update this story as more information becomes available.