Kalaheo, which has 480 students, will be closed tomorrow. Makeshift classes are scheduled to resume Tuesday as some classes may be combined into one or held in the school library, said Daniel Hamada, Kaua'i complex area superintendent for the state Department of Education.

"We'll have to make do as best we can," he said.

Firefighters and police investigators were still on the scene late yesterday. No damage estimate was provided.

Dan Momohara woke up around 3 a.m. yesterday to the smell of smoke and the sound of sirens and his howling dogs. He raced outside wearing just his shorts and saw neighbors hosing down their rooftops to douse the flying embers.

"I saw this huge, orange glow," Momohara said. "The old administration building was in peril."

Momohara, 56, lives about 300 yards from Kalaheo. He attended the school as a child, just as his father, Stanley, and Momohara's own three children had. His wife once taught there.

Momohara attended the 100th anniversary festivities last year. And about two weeks ago, he happened to be going through a box of photos of Kalaheo.

"I had been reminiscing," he said, "and then I see the building go up in smoke."

What little remained of Building A was torn down yesterday in the aftermath of the fire.

"Nothing's left," Hamada said after touring the site. "It was an old wooden structure with those plantation-style iron roofs. ... Just seeing the look on people's faces you know it's a shock. Several people said it was like a bad dream, and they wondered when they're going to (wake) up."

Building A makes up about 20 percent of the K-5 campus. It held fifth- and fourth-grade classes, enrichment programs, special needs classes and the school's administrative offices.

Kalaheo's 40 faculty and staff met yesterday to figure out how to finish out the remaining three-and-a-half weeks of instruction.

"It speaks of the faculty and their commitment that they came out," Hamada said.

They were joined by principals from neighboring schools, who offered counseling services for the children who will return to the rubble Tuesday.

"It's also going to be hard for the staff as well," Hamada said.

Kalaheo sits next to the county's Kato Park and is used as a community center for various after-school activities.

Yesterday, it seemed as if "everybody in the neighborhood turned out," Momohara said. "There's going to be a lot of long faces in the community for a while."