Students at Truett-McConnell College in Cleveland will get an extra week of summer vacation as facility crews repair damage to the college's gymnasium from a July 4 fire.

School officials notified faculty, staff, students and parents of the delay in an email Thursday.

Classes were originally scheduled to start Aug. 17. They will now begin Aug. 24.

The move-in day for new students has been pushed back to Aug. 20 and Aug. 22 through 23 for returning students. A fall break in October has been removed from the calendar to make up the time.

Student-athletes, however, will be able to move in as planned, said Brad Reynolds, vice president for academic services at the college.

"Right now our crews are working with electrical contractors, carpentry contractors and people who do the floor," Reynolds said. "As a result of the additional work with the gym, they're not able to do some of the remodeling of offices that needs to be done before school."

The fire started when lightning hit the gym around 8 p.m. July 4, Cleveland Fire Chief Ricky Pruitt said. It only took five minutes for firefighters to arrive on scene as they were responding to several calls in relation to the storm that night.

"Lightning came in and pretty well just followed the electrical conduit all over the gymnasium," he said. "There was very minimal structural damage and it was pretty well contained."

Cleveland firefighter Donald Pugh said most of the gymnasium damage was from smoke as the fire burned the underside of the bleachers.

"It was pretty much a panel box that melted ... and destroyed the electrical system," Pugh said.

The only person injured in the blaze was the security guard who discovered the fire. He was treated for smoke inhalation and released from the hospital, Pruitt said.

Pruitt said he was on the Truett-McConnell campus recently and spoke with contractors about repairs.

He said the damage was "extensive" and almost the entire electrical system had to be rewired.

Reynolds said he and other administrators haven't had any reaction from students or parents so far.

Faculty are on a salary schedule and will not lose any pay because of the late start, Reynolds said.

Reynolds said online courses will not be affected by the delay and will begin as scheduled.