The fire was reported by the 14 Innes Road school's alarm company at 4:45 p.m., according to police.

No one was in the building at the time the fire was reported but a recreation program was going on in the school yard. All the children were picked up and there were no injuries reported, said Lt. Russell MacArthur of the Police Department.

Approximately 40 children, who were coming back to the school from a day camp trip, were sent to Saint Bartholomew School nearby, said Lt. William Krause of the East Brunswick Fire Department, who was on his way home when the blaze broke out.

Krause said that the only injury was to a fireman whose identity was not released. The fireman had a minor burn on his ear. He was transported to Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick.

The fire was located at the rear of the school. Smoke was seen rising from the roof. Firefighters could be seen on the flat roof of the brick, one-story schoolhouse.

A charred, gapping hole was visable on the side wall of the school where classrooms are located and the air smelled heavily of smoke.

Austin C. Kosik Jr., emergency management coordinator for the township of East Brunswick, said there were 50 firefighters from East Brunswick, Milltown, New Brunswick, North Brunswick and South River on the scene as well as several EMS units.

An emergency medical unit from Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital in New Brunswick was at the scene as were rescue squads from East Brunswick, Milltown and Trans-Med, police said.

Jennifer Varick, 29, of Spotswood, who is an emergency room nurse and a former Memorial School student, said "It's so sad to watch this school burn."

Varick expressed concern for the firefighters' safety.

"They are working very hard, these poor boys,'' Varick said.

Varick's mother, Roseann Corcoran, 51, who lives around the corner from the school, said, "There's so much history here.''

She pointed to her daughter and said, "She grew up here."

Corcoran said, "It's a very community-oriented school. Everybody knows everybody.''

She said a lot of the teachers are long-time employees.

"It's just devastating because it's our school still,'' she said.

Trish LaDuca, director of community relations and programs for the East Brunswick school system, said the school was built in 1956 and has maintained a good record of safety. She said she had not seen a fire in the school in the six years she has been at her job.

"We work very closely with public safety,'' she said, adding that the fire is sad because "every school is the heart of its neighborhood.''

Kosik said that there was a possibility that portable classrooms might be used on the property if the building was uninhabitable by fall.

He said that the fire was still under investigation and a cause was not determined yet.