"Substantial amount of damage: Fire tears through Kenosha Education Association building

KENOSHA -- A fire broke out at the Education Association building in Kenosha  early Friday morning, July 28th. The fire damaged most of the building and completely destroyed the roof.

The fire broke out around 3 a.m. and required multiple agencies to put out.

"My job, there's nothing left, it's just everything is up in smoke," said Greg DeAngelis.

Greg DeAngelis has been a maintenance worker at the Kenosha Educational Association for nearly two decades. On Thursday night, he was one of the last people out of the building.

"Well, the first one was at three o'clock, it was totally engulfed. Then about four o'clock they started opening up the roof, and that's when it broke out again," said DeAngelis.

Firefighters continue to investigate the cause of the fire, but say putting it out was a challenge.

"The original roof, made out of steel, absolutely impeded our ability to get into that attic space from below, which is something we'd normally employ as a tactic," said Battalion Chief Matthew Haerter, Kenosha Fire  Department.

Once the fire was extinguished, crews worked quickly to begin salvaging what remains of the structure.

"Obviously we have a substantial amount of damage here from fire and also water,"said Haerter.

As fire crews began to wrap up,  DeAngelis walked around the front lot trying to make sense of what happened, and figure out what's next.

"It's hard, you just got to go day by day. It's all we can do," said DeAngelis.

Jill Jensen, a Kenosha teacher and president of the Kenosha Education Association, issued this statement on the fire:

The cause of the fire remains under investigation.