Firefighters respond to fire at Baptist school in Attleboro

ATTLEBORO, Mass. (WLNE) — Firefighters responded to the Grace Baptist Church on Oakhill Avenue in Attleboro Wednesday afternoon.

A pastor at the church said that an electrical fire occurred in the attic while class was in session at Grace Baptist Christian Academy.

“We’ve done our drills, we did all our safety precautions, so our kids knew exactly what to do,” Pastor Jeff Bailey said. “Nobody was panicking.”

Crews were called to the scene around 2:10 p.m. and took about 30 minutes to put the fire out.

Everyone inside the building was able to evacuate safely.

“Without a plan there’s chaos,” Attleboro Fire Deputy Chief Dennis Perkins said. “The school did exactly what they needed to do, and the fire department did exactly what they needed to do.”

The building will be closed until further notice, and the official cause of the fire is under investigation.

About 200 students attend the K-12 school, according to Bailey.

“This school has been going for 25 years,” he said. “God has never let us down. He has never deserted us. Every time we’ve had a need, he’s met our need. He’s not going to desert us now.”