A stubborn early morning fire gutted three classrooms, an office, store room and the teacher's lounge at Central Union Church Preschool & Kindergarten today in Makiki.

Monetary damage and the fire's cause haven't been determined yet, but besides displacing 48 preschool and kindergarten students for the day, the biggest loss came in the form of history: The structure was 104 years old and part of the former Dillingham Estates. One of the rooms destroyed contained much of the school's archives.

"Not good," said Jessica Yamauchi, the school's special events coordinator who also deals with the archives, records and school history. "Lots of papers and files were in there. I lost a computer, two printers ... I have a decent amount of stuff backed up on my laptop that I brought home, but it's still a lot of paper lost in there. Files and files of information."

It could have been worse, she said. The proceeds from the school's fair this past weekend were also in her office. Several thousand dollars were preserved by the school's fireproof safe. The only problem with that, however, is that the safe's combination lock melted from the fire's heat.

A locksmith was called to open the safe at about 9 a.m.

Like Yamauchi, other school administrators and staff were trying to take positives out of the fire's destruction.

Miguel Asuncion, a school administrator, said the school had planned to build a new school and in the meantime it had just installed new fire detectors and alarms earlier this week.

"We have renderings for the new school completed," Asuncion said. "Positives often comes from negatives. That's what I'm hoping for in this case. We were very fortunate that this happened with no children and nobody here. The new fire alarms helped."

Firefighters were initially called to the scene at 4:12 a.m. The fire had started somewhere in the 'ewa-mauka corner of the school, directly across from Kapi'olani Medical Center for Women & Children. Ten companies with 42 firefighters responded to the call. It was first deemed under control at 4:45 a.m. and extinguished at 4:53 a.m.

However, as fire investigators sifted through the classroom remains at about 8:30 a.m., the fire restarted and three engines were called back to the school. This time, as they battled the blaze, the wedding march song blared from the church across the yard as a couple from Japan walked down the aisle.

"The second time the fire was in the roof area and that made it a little more difficult to fight," said Capt. Robert Main of the Honolulu Fire Department.

Though nobody was injured, some patients at Kapi'olani Medical Center in rooms facing the church and school had to be moved because of heavy smoke.

"The firefighters did a good job of containing the fire but the smoke was very heavy and it got into the air conditioning at the hospital," Main said.

In the school's tiny courtyard, a handful of tricycles were damaged but two cedar playhouses, standing within 20 feet of the structure, weren't damaged at all.

"They were even closer to the building than they are now when firefighters first got here," Main said. "They hosed the playhouses down and they're OK."

Robinson Fredrick is an assistant superintendent for the church who lives on the property. He said the fire alarms woke him up and by the time he got to the school the fire was mushrooming under the school's roof, sending plumes of smoke high into the air.

"The fire was shooting out from under the roof but the smoke was high," Fredrick said. "We had just got the new alarms inspected Monday."

School administrators spent the morning calling parents and canceling classes. They will determine later today when the 48 toddlers and preschoolers will return to class, and where.

"There's plenty of room in other areas of our church," Asuncion said. "We don't want to misplace the kids too long."

Dennis and Nadine Salle of Kaimuki were among a handful of parents who brought their kids to the school grounds despite the class cancellations.

"We got a call telling us what happened but we wanted to bring him here to show him so he'd understand what went on," said Dennis Salle, with 4-year-old son Etienne riding piggyback on his shoulders as they watched firefighters work. "This is kind of a life lesson. The finality of what can happen. Here yesterday. Gone today. He's a little sad. He wanted to go to school today."

Francis Uechi brought his 4-year-old grandson Chase Chow to school also to get a firsthand look.

"He wanted to see what happened to his school," Uechi said. "He saw it on the morning news and it looked bad."

Miguel Asuncion, a school administrator, said the school had just installed new fire detectors earlier this week. He also said the church had planned to replace the old structure, but no timetable for the new school had been set.

"We have renderings completed," he said. "Positives often comes from negatives. That's what I'm hoping for in this case. We were very fortunate that this happened with no children and nobody here. The new fire alarms helped."

School administrators spent the morning calling parents and canceling classes for today. They will determine later today when the 48 toddlers and preschoolers will return to class, and where.

"There's plenty of room in other areas of our church," Asuncion said. "We don't want to misplace the kids too long."

Dennis and Nadine Salle of Kaimuki were among a handful of parents who brought their kids to the school grounds despite the class cancellations.

"We got a call telling us what happened but we wanted to bring him here to show him so he'd understand what went on," said Dennis Salle, with 4-year-old son Etienne riding piggyback on his shoulders as they watched firefighters work. "This is kind of a life lesson. The finality of what can happen. Here yesterday. Gone today."

Franis Uechi brought his 4-year-old grandson Chase Chow to school also to get a firsthand look.

"He wanted to see what happened to his school," Uechi said. "He saw it on the morning news and it looked bad."

Cause of the fires haven't been determined. Damage estimates are expected to be released later today.