Blurred view of fire truck driving in city

Berkeley firefighters used a ladder truck to rescue four people from the second floor of an old wooden building near the UC Berkeley campus that caught fire Monday afternoon, authorities said.

The two-alarm fire in the 2400 block of Bowditch Avenue, about two blocks south of Cal campus and across from People’s Park, was reported about noon in the Alumnae Hall building that was once part of the Anna Head School for Girls. Built in 1927, the building houses university offices and is owned by UC Berkeley. No injuries were reported.

The smoky fire was quickly brought under control by Berkeley firefighters and extinguished by 1:42 p.m., according to UC Berkeley officials. They said the amount of water used to extinguish the fire likely damaged the structure. The amount of damage is not yet known, said David Sprague, deputy chief for the Berkeley Fire Department.

The cause of the fire remains under investigation by the UC fire marshal, authorities said.

The building was part of the former girls school campus, which opened in 1892. Earlier this year, it became the subject of a campaign by historians, architects and builders who want to work with the university to restore and preserve the six Arts and Crafts buildings believed to the first brown-shingle stuctures in Berkeley.

UC Berkeley took possession of the Anna Head campus by eminent domain in 1955 after the girls school moved to Oakland, where it later merged with the Josiah Royce School for Boys and became Head-Royce School.

Michael Cabanatuan (he/him) is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: mcabanatuan@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @ctuan

Michael Cabanatuan is a general assignment and breaking news reporter who's covered everything from wildfires and sports fans to protests and COVID masking requirements. He's also written extensively about transportation and covered Contra Costa County for The Chronicle. He's ridden high-speed trains in Japan, walked in the Transbay Tube, been tear-gassed in Oakland and exposed to nude protesters in the Castro. Cabanatuan worked at the Paradise Post (long before anyone heard of the town), the former West County Times (in Richmond) and the Modesto Bee before joining The Chronicle. He is a two-time graduate of UC Berkeley.