A fire broke out in the mechanical room at Tenino High School Friday morning, and students and staff were evacuated, according to the South Thurston Fire Department and the Tenino School District.
No injuries were reported, according to a post on the school district’s website.
Staff in the school’s administrative offices heard a pop and informed maintenance staff, Jed Neumeier, a South Thurston firefighter, told The Olympian. Maintenance staff discovered heavy smoke and flames in the crawl space that houses the school’s HVAC unit, he said, and used a fire extinguisher on the flames.
“I feel very proud of the staff’s reaction,” Superintendent Joe Belmonte told The Olympian.
The fire call came in at 10:39 a.m., according to county 911 dispatch. Firefighters checked to make sure the fire had not spread and found a fuse that had failed on an electrical panel on the HVAC unit, Neumeier said. The fire was out by 11:30 a.m.
East Olympia Fire Department and Rochester Fire Rescue also responded to the fire call.
All of Friday’s extracurricular activities were canceled, the school district announced. High school students who take the bus were bused home from Tenino Middle School.
Students and staff were allowed back in the building Friday afternoon to retrieve their belongings.
Evacuation and reunification with families went smoothly, Superintendent Belmonte said, and staff will debrief to discuss anything they could do better.
He expects repairs to be made over the three-day weekend. “We should be open for business Tuesday,” he said, but parents will be notified either way.
