CLOVIS, Calif. (KFSN) -- Investigators are working to determine the cause of a fire at an elementary school in Clovis.
Firefighters battled the blaze Wednesday night in the campus cafeteria at Sierra Vista Elementary School on Barstow and Woodworth.
Deputy Chief John Binaski said, "The building was about a 6,500 square foot multipurpose for the school so it had a stage, they were adding a kitchen area for their lunch program and there was a fire that started in the stage area."
Deputy Binaski said it took nearly 50 firefighters about an hour to control the three alarm fire. Heavy smoke reduced visibility and the stage's layout prevented firefighters from reaching the flames.
"It was a hard fire for us to fight because it's an elevated platform made out of wood and then they put a hard top on top of it so the fire ran underneath there and it enabled it to get bigger before it was noticed by a passerby around 8pm last night," explained Deputy Binaski.
Luckily no one was inside the school at the time, and crews kept the fire from spreading to nearby structures. But the blaze did cause about $300 thousand in damage.
Clovis Unified Spokesperson Kelly Avants said, "It was sizeable enough between smoke damage and water damage and the fire itself that there's some extensive interior damage to the stage and the curtains and furniture that was in the building."
Avants says the district will now utilize the summer to make repairs, and wrap up its multi-million dollar capital improvement project.
"Today we're really in assessment mode to see the extent of the damage and get a sense of what it's going to take to get the school ready for the start of school in August," said Avants.
There is a health clinic that operates here on campus. PG&E has restored power to that building and it is now back open for business.
Students were also not impacted because summer school is not being held here while construction takes place.
The cause of the fire is expected to be released in about a week.