Fire damages rural Missouri school building

FREDERICKTOWN, Mo. -- The Missouri state fire marshal is being asked to investigate a fire that badly damaged a Southeast Missouri school.

No children were in the private Faith Foundation school when the fire broke out around 6 a.m. Wednesday in rural Madison County, near Fredericktown.

It wasn't immediately clear whether any adults were in the building, but there were no injuries.

The building is a former church turned into a school. Firefighters from several departments battled the blaze. A dispatcher for the Madison County Sheriff's Department said the building is badly damaged or destroyed.