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Oakland Unified School District telephone technicians Cathy Pugh, left, and Rudy Reyes work on the telephone line at Sobrante Park Elementary School's Art Room after a suspicious fire on Thursday night. (Ray Chavez/The Oakland Tribune)

OAKLAND — A fire of suspicious origin did considerable damage to an art classroom portable building at Sobrante Park Elementary School in Oakland on Thursday night.

The fire forced the school to move classrooms elsewhere at the school, a school official said. It was the second fire in a classroom portable in a year.

"We had another portable that burned last June. We're still waiting on the district to repair that one," said Carmen Denhams, administrative assistant.

Oakland fire Lt. David Brue said fire and police investigators are looking into the cause of the fire. When firefighters arrived at 8:15 p.m.

Thursday the fire was burning inside the portable.

Brue said the damage estimate included $30,000 to the structure and $10,000 to the contents.


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