Investigation into fire at Mt. Whitney High School

VISALIA, Calif. (KFSN) -- The investigation continues into a fire Mt. Whitney High School in Visalia, that caused millions of dollars in damage.

The fire started at about 6:45 pm Monday evening.

RELATED: Fire on the campus of Mt. Whitney High School in Visalia burns auto shop building

The Visalia Fire Department Says they are working to find out what caused this fire. Meanwhile, school was still in session today.

Despite the unfortunate circumstances, on Tuesday, Mt. Whitney High School Principal Rick Hamilton was keeping an optimistic outlook.

"We're in good shape," said Hamilton.

The fire destroyed the school's auto shop, which was built in the 1960s, a few years after the school's main buildings.

"So, we lost that piece, and that hurts, but we will rebuild," said Hamilton. "We will have a great program going forward."

No one was hurt and no other buildings were touched by the fire.

But three other classrooms in the area, including the metal shop in the back of the building, can't be used right now because they don't have power.

Hamilton says they've relocated all of the affected classes to different rooms on campus.

Hamilton explains the impact of the fire, "We know the auto shop is going to be impacted for the rest of the school year, there's no way around that. We already have some temporary things in place. We're working on some alternative plans to keep that program going. It's not going to be perfect, but we have a good plan in place."

Spring break is fast-approaching, so Hamilton says they should be able to restore power to the other classrooms during that time.

The auto shop will have to be torn down and then rebuilt.

But Hamilton thinks that should be done in time for next school year.

For now, it's taped off, and the fire department has told people to stay out because the roof could still collapse.