Fire damages Rio Grande City school

RIO GRANDE CITY - Fire caused widespread damage at Ringgold Middle School after flames reportedly broke out late Tuesday night, officials said.

A dispatcher said the fire had been burning since at least 11 p.m. Tuesday.  The building was actively burning, with multiple departments already at the scene, and flames were visible from both the north and south ends school at the central Fort Ringgold campus, witnesses said.

Witnesses confirmed about 12:40 a.m. Wednesday that multiple departments from McAllen to San Isidro had the fire under control.

"Everybody's fighting frantically to put it out," said Rio Grande City schools superintendent Roel Gonzalez.

The building was undergoing an expensive renovation and was about a month and a half from completion, Gonzalez said. Parts of the building were being used for 6th graders, and there were some portable classrooms stationed nearby, but most of the classes were housed off-site, he said.

The cause of the fire was not known, he said, but the school will likely be a total loss.  "We're going to probably have to build a whole new school now," Gonzalez said.

The Rio Grande City school district canceled classes for all Ringgold Middle School students Wednesday. Gonzalez said administrators were already planning to clean up some of the campus's older, unused buildings to house classes for the remainder of the year.