MOUNT CALVARY, Wis. (AP) - The nearly 200 students at St. Lawrence Seminary are safe after a five-alarm fire broke out at a building on the boarding school’s eastern Wisconsin campus early Saturday.
School spokesman Philip Van Ermen said all students were allowed to return to their dorms Saturday morning. No one was injured in the fire, which began before dawn in a section of St. Joseph Hall, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported (https://bit.ly/1ghgiJM ).
Action Reporter Media in Fond du Lac reported that St. Joseph Hall is the oldest building on campus.
Mount Calvary Fire Chief Mark Petrie said the fire happened in a section of the building that is used for offices and classrooms.
“That section is a total loss,” he said. But added the fire did not spread to the main building, and no other buildings were damaged.
The cause of the blaze was still being investigated.
St. Lawrence Seminary High School is the nation’s oldest Catholic high school seminary. It is a private boarding school for male students and was founded in 1860 by Capuchin Franciscans. It draws students from around the world.
The Journal Sentinel reported that St. Lawrence is one of just six free-standing seminary schools now operating in the United States, down from more than 100 in the 1960s.
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Information from: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, https://www.jsonline.com
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