Flames gutted an annex building at Central Point Elementary School Saturday morning in almost the exact spot where a fire simulation was planned for next week.

Central Point Police Officer Charlie Asher spotted a large column of smoke rising into the sky a few blocks south of the Central Point Police Station at about 9 a.m. and notified firefighters. Asher said he was preparing to respond to another call when he saw the smoke.

"But this took precedence," he said.

Apparently no one was in the building, a World War II-era wooden frame structure that was used for office space and records storage, when the flames erupted.

Ten firefighters from Fire District 3 were on the scene with two fire engines and a rescue vehicle in less than a minute. The annex is across the street from the main school buildings at Bush and Second streets.

"It looks like a hot, smoldering fire that cooked for a while before anybody saw it," Battalion Chief Rod Edwards said. "There's a lot of damage."

The building was valued at $52,000. The exact amount of damage to it was not determined. The building's entire contents, valued at $20,000, were lost.

Firefighters said the fire apparently started in the building's north end. A fire investigator was looking for the cause Saturday.

Edwards said firefighters and school officials had planned the fire simulation, an exercise for both the school and fire department, for May 13.

"It's a concern because of the age of the structures," Edwards said. "These older buildings can go up pretty fast."

One of the main school buildings dates from before World War I. Another is from the 1920s.

In another unusual twist, the building was marked for demolition if voters approve a $35 million school construction bond issue that's on the May 19 ballot.

The annex building was moved to the schoolgrounds in the 1940s from Camp White, the Army's sprawling World War II base in what is now White City. It was considered only a temporary facility.

School District 6 Superintendent Mike McClain and Central Point Elementary Principal Hal Oxner rushed to the scene from a meeting at the district office after McClain was notified of the blaze.

"We were talking about the need to replace these old buildings," McClain said, shaking his head.

The annex building housed records for special education, food services and maintenance. Five computers were in the building, and several cabinets of paper files.

"We can reconstruct most of the records," Oxner said.