Report points to electrical failure as possible cause of fire that destroyed school in the interior of SP; police investigate omission

Fire at the Prada School: different generations of students lament the destruction of the building A report from the Institute of Criminalistics (IC) points to electrical failure as a possible cause of the large fire that destroyed the Prada Municipal School, in Limeira (SP), in May this year. Furthermore, the Civil Police reported this Tuesday (18) that it is investigating any omissions that may have contributed to the fire. In the document, the IC mentions that the fire possibly started in the area between the ceilings of the historic building, a space where there were components of the electrical installation and wooden structural elements, which favored the spread of the fire. On the other hand, the investigation did not identify traces that indicated that the fire had been caused on purpose nor evidence that the flames started outside the building. "Among the hypotheses technically considered, those related to localized heating resulting from poor contact, deterioration of connections, insulation failures or sparking and electrical arcing phenomena are most compatible with the observed scenario", says the report. ? Follow g1 Piracicaba on Instagram Despite the suspicion of an electrical failure, the agency highlighted that, due to the destruction of the site, it was not possible to conclusively determine what started the fire. Speaking to EPTV, a TV Globo affiliate, delegate Luiz Guilherme Barbosa stated that he was awaiting documentation to conclude whether municipal bodies could have adopted measures to avoid the risk of fire. "We need to analyze the measures adopted by municipal bodies and the school administration to find out whether the risk was already known. So far we have not identified records of previous failures or other events that would indicate the likelihood of an electrical failure, but we have not yet received all the requested documents", he highlighted. Aerial image of the Prada School in flames last Friday (1st) Wesley Almeida/EPTV Space without AVCB The possibility that the fire started in the electrical wiring had already been raised at the time by firefighters. The building did not have a Fire Department Inspection Report (AVCB). ?The AVCB is issued by the Fire Department and certifies that the property has adequate safety conditions. This includes items such as fire extinguishers, emergency signage, firefighting equipment, fire doors and other items. According to the municipal administration, upon taking over management in January 2025, "many schools in the municipal network without the AVCB and with serious structural problems" were identified. At that time, 56 schools were irregular. Listing The school turns 80 years old in June 2027. The building, listed as a historical heritage site in the municipality, was once part of the Prada complex, where one of the largest hat factories in Latin America operated. It is estimated that around 30 thousand students have already attended the unit since the beginning of activities. "We started talking to architects, engineers, and several of them say that it is possible to recover these walls and that it is possible to restore them. But we will only be able to define this after we have an opinion from the scientific police and we will also hire specialized personnel to be able to define what can be reused or not", said the Secretary of Education, Antônio Montesano Neto, at the time. Firefighter putting out the flames during a fire at the Prada school last Friday (1st) Wagner Morente/GCM de Limeira See more news about the region on the g1 Piracicaba page