Norwich – Pfizer Inc. will donate $5,000 to the city school system to cover the insurance deductible for last week’s fire at Kelly Middle School, which damaged two science laboratories named for company co-founder Charles Pfizer.

Alderman Charles Jaskiewicz, chairman of the Kelly Middle School Building Committee, told the Board of Education Tuesday night that he approached Pfizer leaders in Groton the day after the fire to seek assistance with recovery efforts.

Hundreds of volunteer hours by Pfizer employees, including Jaskiewicz, helped the school system obtain $2.94 million in interest-free bonds for the city's $10.2 million share of the project’s $40 million renovation cost. In response, the school system named the two science rooms for Charles Pfizer.

Jaskiewicz said the company agreed to donate the city’s $5,000 insurance deductible, along with 20 computers with flat-screen monitors and 20 laptops to the school system.

An older computer monitor caught fire in the early morning of March 4, causing little fire damage but extensive water damage through the sprinkler system.