DETROIT --
Thick smoke billowed out of the second-story window of an elementary school as firefighters battled to extinguish a two-alarm blaze at Bennett Elementary School in southwest Detroit on Wednesday afternoon.
Detroit Public Schools spokesman Steve Wasko told Local 4 that a contractor was doing work at the school when the fire started.
Investigators are still trying to determine what started the fire.
Fire investigators said 85 percent of the building has smoke and water damage.
Bennett Elementary School is a pre-kindergarten through fifth-grade school and was dismissed for the holidays.
One man told Local 4 that it was a heartbreak to watch the building smoke because he went to the school.
"It was devastating because this is our kid's education, this is our kid's future," said Michelle Golden, a parent of a Bennett student.
School officials will be surveying the building to determine whether school will resume by Jan. 6., when classes are set to begin after a holiday break.
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