Fire rips through 100-year-old Amador Valley High gym in Pleasanton

PLEASANTON, Calif. - A fire broke out at the 100-year-old gym Sunday night at Amador Valley High School in Pleasanton, according to officials. 

Officials with the Livermore-Pleasanton Fire Department said the fire broke out just before 8 p.m. on Sunday and no injuries were reported, as the school at 1155 Santa Rita Road was closed.

Firefighters said the fire started in a trash can in a corner of the building. The flames were extinguished in about half an hour.

Multiple notifications were sent to parents alerting them of the fire, and telling them to check for updates to see if there would be school on Monday. A final push went out less than half an hour before first period, according to a parent, saying school would continue.

One parent, Shea Oliver, said, "Twelve hours later, we didn’t know if school was starting."

"Last night when we saw what was happening, they said the roof was collapsing, and all of a sudden it was really scary," Oliver continued. 

The school was closed during the fire, with the last event on campus, a musical at the Amador Theater, ending at 4:30 p.m., according to the school's calendar. The theater shares a wall with the small gymnasium.

"I’m glad it was empty and nobody was hurt obviously and this did not happen during school hours," Oliver said. 

Patrick Gannon, the Pleasanton Unified School spokesperson, said PG&E turned off the power. "As part of the safety precautions, PG&E does shut off power to any building that’s affected by a fire, which also affected other parts of our campus."   

Gannon said the teachers made the most of it. "A lot of staff took advantage of the fact that it’s a beautiful day outside," he said.

Oliver said her son was sitting in the courtyard playing charades while the power was out. "They failed to mention that the power was out, but they did say school was in fact open and happening." 

As school stayed in session, Gannon said there was a second smaller fire on Monday morning.

"We did unfortunately have an incident during school, in the morning, where some students made a poor decision to start a fire in our bathroom waste bin," he said, adding that the two incidents are isolated, but the school is reviewing security camera footage. 

By 11:45 a.m., school officials said PG&E restored power across campus and classes resumed to normal, but parents said the school should have canceled class to begin with. 

"I think there might have been some concerns about what was burning and the fumes," Oliver said. "Because the building was built in 1923."

"Closing school is a very large step simply because we have families that rely on sending their children to school each day," said Gannon.

A measure to rebuild outdated schools passed in 2022, using $395 million in bonds, the school district is slowly upgrading school facilities, and district officials said old buildings like the one that caught fire are on the list. 

The cause of the fire is under investigation.

Fire at Amador Valley High School in Pleasanton