Photos: Blaze in Shuttered School Tackled by Firefighters in Fort Worth, TX

Fort Worth firefighters deployed three aerial ladders during the two-and-a-half-hour operation.

Sept. 25, 2025

2 min read

Lillie Davidson

Fort Worth Star-Telegram

(TNS)

An overnight fire at a shuttered Fort Worth elementary school took over 80 firefighters to contain, officials with the Fort Worth Fire Department said.

Fire crews responded to the former S.S. Dillow Elementary School building in east Fort Worth after midnight Wednesday, officials wrote on Facebook.

The first crews on scene found fire on the school’s first floor and heavy smoke coming from the roof, according to the Facebook post. As the first crews began attacking the fire from inside the building, other crews were called in to make sure no one was inside.

Because the fire had already spread up the walls and through the roof, the incident commander called a second alarm and decided to switch to a defensive firefighting strategy, according to the post.

Firefighters fought the blaze for two and a half hours, employing three aerial ladder trucks to attack the fire from above, officials said.

No injuries were reported and the cause of the fire is under investigation.

Dillow Elementary closed earlier this year, one of 18 schools Fort Worth ISD voted to close over the next four years. Officials chose Dillow for closure because the building’s condition was rapidly deteriorating due to a water leak.