A huge fire engulfed a building on campus of the historic Glen Mills School in Delaware County on Thursday. No one was hurt in the blaze.
Video: Fire Rages At Glen Mills School (Raw video - 6 minutes)
Slideshow: Aerials Of Fire
One of the main buildings has been swallowed up in flames. The fire also spread to a second building.
The fire companies contained the fire, which was whipped up by high winds. Because the fire was close to some dorm buildings, people have been evacuated to a nearby gym.
Smoke billowed high in the sky, visible from miles away as flames appeared to rocket through the roof of the maintenance building.
School officials said the fire began in the boiler room at approximately 3 p.m. Workers inside the buildling told NBC 10 News that they spotted thick smoke and flames and rushed out for help.
"I got hold of everybody," said maintenance worker Sean Kelleher. "We were wondering what was going on. There was a lot of confusion. I've never seen anything like that before."
"The maintenance workers did a good job of getting everybody out, and we were working on getting vehicles out," said counselor Greg Frazier.
Despite the high winds, firefighters contained the blaze to the one building. However, school officials said the fire knocked out power and heat to at least half of the buildings on campus, including four dormitories.
"This evening, I think we're going to have about 200 youngsters displaced in temporary accommodations," said Bernie Krieger, director of admissions for the school.
The Glen Mills School is a private, residential school for court adjudicated male delinquents between 15 and 18 years of age.
Founded in 1826 it is the oldest existing school of its type in the United States.
It has about 1,000 students.
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