{"id":262999,"date":"2026-08-11T02:38:44","date_gmt":"2026-08-11T02:38:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/262999\/"},"modified":"2026-08-11T02:38:44","modified_gmt":"2026-08-11T02:38:44","slug":"fire-at-former-fort-erie-high-school-deemed-arson-police","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/262999\/","title":{"rendered":"Fire at former Fort Erie high school deemed arson: police"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Niagara police say a massive fire at a former high school in Fort Erie overnight Monday is being investigated as arson.<\/p>\n<p>Police and the Fort Erie Fire Department responded around 1:15 a.m. to the blaze at Ridgeway-Crystal Beach High School on Ridge Road North, near Nigh Road.<\/p>\n<p>Fire Chief Mark Schmitt told CHCH News that crews arrived to a significant fire at the back of the building, which quickly spread into another section of the structure.<\/p>\n<p>The school was being demolished to make room for 113 new homes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cGiven the unknown structural conditions associated with the ongoing demolition, operations are being conducted in a defensive mode,\u201d Schmitt said early Monday morning.<\/p>\n<p><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-192552 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Ridgeway-Crystal-Beach-fire-Aug-10.jpg\" alt=\"Fort Erie high school arson\" width=\"700\" height=\"400\"  \/>Fort Erie firefighters battle a blaze at the former Ridgeway-Crystal Beach High School on Ridge Road North on Aug. 10, 2026. (Sean Cowan\/CHCH News)<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCrews are utilizing elevated master streams to contain and control the fire while maintaining firefighter safety.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>No injuries have been reported.<\/p>\n<p>In an update Monday afternoon, police say fire crews are still working to extinguish the blaze.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe incident is expected to remain active for an extended period, and crews will continue suppression and monitoring operations throughout the day,\u201d Schmitt said.<\/p>\n<p>READ MORE:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.chch.com\/chch-news\/single-motorcycle-crash-in-thorold-sends-driver-to-hospital-with-life-threatening-injuries\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Single motorcycle crash in Thorold sends driver to hospital with life-threatening injuries<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Niagara police and the Fort Erie Fire Department are now investigating the act of arson.<\/p>\n<p>Residents and businesses in the area of Ridge Road North are asked to review video surveillance and contact police if anything suspicious is seen.<\/p>\n<p>Anyone with information regarding this fire is asked to contact the Niagara Regional Police Service at 905-688-4111, option 3, ext. 1009538.<\/p>\n<p>To provide information anonymously, contact Crime Stoppers of Niagara online or by calling 1-800-222-8477(TIPS).<\/p>\n<p>READ MORE:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.chch.com\/chch-news\/man-charged-with-second-degree-murder-in-st-catharines\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"bookmark noopener nofollow\">Man charged with second-degree murder in St. Catharines<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Niagara police say a massive fire at a former high school in Fort Erie overnight Monday is being&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":263000,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[136,138,137],"class_list":["post-262999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-erie","tag-erie","tag-erie-headlines","tag-erie-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=262999"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/262999\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/263000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=262999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=262999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=262999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}