Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Fire damages MMS

Students at McRae Middle School got an early start to their Spring Break as a classroom fire resulted in school being let out Friday.

Fifth and sixth grade students were sent home Thursday, March 21, the day the fire occurred in a resource room.

According to Prescott Superintendent Ron Wright, the fire may have been caused by a candle that's flame came in contact with a plastic bag being used to cover a computer.

The result was the bag catching fire and causing the computer to burn. However, Wright said, the computer wasn't hooked up and had no power going to it, otherwise things could have been worse.

There was little damage, other than from the smoke which billowed throughout the building leaving soot everywhere.

Insurance adjusters were on site Thursday talking with school officials. Wright said the insurance people estimated the damage at $20,000, including cleanup efforts, which was done by Metro Refurbishing.

A total of 45 computers will be cleaned and checked out, Wright said. The insurance company, though, told him if there were any fire-related problems with the computers within the next six months the insurance company would pay for the repairs, or to have them replaced.

The fire was reported at 7 a.m. Thursday, with the first thought being it was in the cafeteria, as it was filled with smoke.

Wright checked the breakers and found no heat coming from them, though there was the odor of a burning electrical appliance in the air. None of the breakers were thrown from an overload either, he said.

From there, Wright checked the other fuse boxes, finding the same thing  no heat and no breakers thrown.

Smoke filled the hallways throughout the building and found nothing until he came to the resource room. When he opened the door, soot fell from it onto the ground.

The Prescott Fire Department personnel used air tanks to find the problem, and used fans to help blow the smoke out of the building. "They did an excellent job," Wright said.

Once the problem was identified and students sent home. The district's cleaning crews were called in to begin scrubbing down floors and walls throughout the building.

Special chemicals were used on the walls to remove any potentially toxic materials, while the floors were swept and scrubbed with industrial cleaner.

Wright said the ceiling in the resource room was made of a non-flammable material called Technum. This helped keep the fire contained within a small area in one room.

He said the ceiling wasn't damaged, but crews will still check to make sure no structural damage was caused by the fire.

Fortunately, all classroom doors in the building were closed at the time, he said, or the problem could have been worse.

In all, 160 students were sent home Thursday, with the entire student body of about 300 told to stay home Friday.

Wright said the cleanup would be done in time for the annual Prescott-Nevada County Chamber of Commerce Banquet Tuesday, March 26.

No one was injured due to the fire or cleanup efforts.