Fire at Dos Palos High School damages multiple classrooms

FRESNO, Calif. (KFSN) -- Smoke billowed from the classrooms at Dos Palos High School early Wednesday morning.

JT Gomez is a junior at the high school.

He says his first-period classroom was just one of the rooms destroyed by those flames

"My mom's a teacher here," he said. "She woke me up in the morning and told me there was a fire in the school."

The superintendent says a maintenance worker called in the fire at around 6 am. That employee believed it started in an air conditioning unit.

"It was coming through the windows, there was a lot of heavy smoke," says Mark Pimentel with Merced County Fire.

Crews called for back up and were able to keep the fire contained to four classrooms.

Those classrooms will need some repair before students can return.

This isn't the first fire for the campus.

In 2009, flames sparked in a scrapwood box, destroying two buildings that housed the wood and auto shops, plus the agriculture shop and classroom.

"I didn't think anything like that would happen again, I was shocked," says Angel Marin.

Investigators are still working to determine what caused the flames.

Classes are canceled both Thursday and Friday with hopes for students to return next Monday.