HAYS COUNTY, Texas -- Four Hays CISD teachers were displaced days into the school year after a portable classroom caught fire.

  • Portable classroom destroyed by fire
  • Happened at Camino Real Elementary
  • Teachers and students lost supplies

Fire officials suspect an electrical issue was likely the cause of the fire that destroyed a portable at Camino Real Elementary near Kyle. A district spokesperson said the fire happened around 11 p.m. Monday and no one was inside at the time.

While insurance will replace the building itself, the teachers’ and students’ school supplies that were inside are a total loss.

“It takes a lot of time and a lot of effort to prepare those classrooms for when those kids do come in and meet us,” said veteran teacher Melissa Rivera-Brown.

Rivera-Brown got the devastating call Monday night about her classroom catching fire. The fire forced her and her portable classroom partner Victoria Burgess, a first-year teacher, to move temporarily into the elementary school’s library and computer labs.

“As I'm going through the day, you know, the motions with my kids and I think, 'Oh, I needed a sharpener.' Things are gone and you kind of want to reach for something and it's not there. That's tough,” said Rivera-Brown.

Rivera-Brown said despite the relocation, her students have remained resilient.

“You know looking over at the buildings, it was pretty tough to see, but we had to put on our brave face for kids and just come in here and make sure that they were OK. Our priority is that they were OK,” Rivera-Brown said.

Principal Yvette Soliz said the estimated cost of damages is more than $250,000. The building is considered a "wet portable," meaning it has a restroom inside, which makes it a more expensive kind of portable classroom.

Soliz said the assistance she has seen from the Hays CISD community has been overwhelming. Donation after donation, the district has seen an outpouring of support for the teachers and students who were displaced.

“The community’s coming, they're embracing us and it's just made a nightmare easier to take just knowing that we have people out there that want us to get back to normal, that want us to know that they're out there,” Soliz said.

Rivera-Brown was surprised when she found out her Amazon wish list was cleared by actress Kristen Johnston after a parent posted about the fire on Twitter.

"She cleared my list. It's been amazing the support we've been getting, not only here locally, but all over," Rivera-Brown said.

She is now continuously updating her Amazon wish list when she notices something is missing.

"As I'm going throughout my day and I realize things that I'm missing, I'll add it. Like the staplers, I didn't even think about a stapler. So today I just added staples," Rivera-Brown said.

If you’d like to monetarily help the teachers that were displaced by this fire, you can stop by or mail a check to Camino Real Elementary School to make a donation, or call the school at (512) 268-8505, or reach out via Facebook.