By RYAN LANCASTER
Staff Reporter
Students at Medical Lake Elementary saw an extra day of spring break Monday while crews cleaned up smoke damage in the south wing of the school caused by the electrical fire.
According to incident reports, MLE custodians called 911 after hearing smoke alarms sound at approximately 12:30 p.m. on April 1. Crews from MLFD, Fire District 3 and the Airway Heights Fire Department responded and used portable extinguishers to put out the fire, which was confined to one classroom.
Medical Lake fire chief Jeff Estes said an initial investigation revealed the blaze started when smoldering material from a fluorescent light ballast fell onto and ignited two desks and three chairs. “It got hot enough in there to melt the blinds over the windows,” he said, adding that in his experience it's unusual to see a defective lighting fixture cause a fire in this way.
Seven other classrooms and the south wing hallway were damaged by smoke, and Medical Lake Superintendent Pam Veltri said a company specializing in fire and flood restoration was brought in to “scrub the air” and all surfaces of smoke residue before students returned to school on Tuesday. Avista utilities also inspected the school's electrical system, which was deemed undamaged.
Veltri praised the school's smoke detection system, saying damage would have likely been considerably worse had the alarms not been installed under a grant eight years ago, as the school has no fire suppression system. Neither she nor Estes were able to give an approximate cost of the damage to the school, but Estes said unlike residential fires, damage estimates tend to take more time when commercial or public structures are involved because insurance companies must complete their own estimates.
“There was some fairly significant smoke damage,” Estes said. “It's just fortunate kids were on spring break.”
Ryan Lancaster can be reached at [email protected].
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