CITY OF NEWBURGH – City of Newburgh firefighters responding Tuesday to boiler-room smoke at a Catholic elementary school condemned the building due to structural issues, including cracked walls that raised fears of a collapse, tilted floors and two basement rooms being used for classes.

Firefighters responding around 2 p.m. to smoke from a broken boiler flue at Sacred Heart School began inspecting the building, which is on Robinson Avenue between Ann and Washington streets, after observing cracks in load-bearing walls, leaking heating pipes, sagging floors and other problems.

Before leaving they condemned the building, halting its use as a pre-kindergarten-to-eighth-grade school for an undetermined amount of time and forcing parents of Sacred Heart’s nearly 200 students to adjust their schedules.

The school is preparing for an extended closure by looking at other sites for classes, acting Newburgh fire Chief Terry Ahlers said.

While officials with the Sacred Heart Church parish and the Archdiocese of New York say defects leading to the wall cracks and sagging floors were corrected by the installation of steel beams over a decade ago, Newburgh officials say they want to ensure the building is safe before allowing students to return.

“We’re not looking to put them out of business,” Ahlers said. “We want to get them back in the school as quick as we can, but we’re not going to speed something up just to meet a deadline. Everybody’s got to be safe.”

In addition to the wall cracks, which indicate walls that are bowed, the inspection also turned up ceilings rotted by leaking water, space heaters being used to warm some classrooms, inoperable bathroom doors and two basement classrooms without adequate exits in case of an emergency.

One of the basement rooms being used for classes had two windows, one of which was blocked by an air conditioner, Ahlers said. In the other room, the window led to a well-hole, which is meant to be used for light and ventilation, not as an exit, he said.

When the school reopens, neither basement room can be used for classes without modifications, Ahlers said. School officials have had plans to replace the heating system during the summer recess, but the city wants leaking pipes replaced, and not just patched, before allowing children to return, he said.

“We understand where they’re coming from – that they don’t want to repair pipes that they’re going to be cutting out in six months,” he said. “At the same time, we can’t have water dripping down where kids are getting their lunch; we can’t have steam dripping or steam escaping from a pipe that’s patched.”

The Archdiocese of New York, which oversees the parish, has yet to respond to a request for comment.

lsparks@th-record.com