Small Fire In Electrical Box Forces Evacuation At West Elementary School

A small fire in an electrical box triggered alarms and forced the evacuation of Glenwood’s West Elementary School last Tuesday, Oct. 8.

Glenwood firefighters were dispatched to the school at 11:49 a.m. after the Mills County E-911 Communications Center received a call from a school custodian.

No smoke or flames were visible when firefighters arrived, but a “light haze” was reported in a hallway near the second floor breaker box where the fire was detected.

“It was an electrical fire that was confined to the actual breaker box,” Glenwood Fire Chief Matt Gray said. “Basically, the breaker functioned as it should and basically stopped and contained any type of fire spread. Had that not functioned, we would have talked about fire spreading through everything. It contained everything and locked it down. Otherwise, if it would have been still energized and not tripped, we’d be looking at a pretty good size fire in that upstairs.”

Gray said both smoke detectors and fire alarms at the school functioned properly.

“Smoke from the fire triggered the fire alarm,” he said. “The fire alarm system functioned as it should. There were no other issues or concerns with fire spread once we got in there because we took thermal imagers in and went through everything.”

Gray said the breaker box was located in a second-floor hallway near an office and restrooms on the north side of the school building. He praised school officials for their response.

“The school did a great job evacuating everybody,” Gray said. “As far as why it tripped, that’s an electrician’s job, not ours. They had their school maintenance and electricians on-scene pretty much immediately and they went through to figure out what the issue was and got it repaired.”

Firefighters were at the school for about 35 minutes.

Parents were notified of the incident later in the day in a message from Glenwood Community School District Interim Superintendent Nicole Kooiker.

“I wanted to inform you that a fire alarm went off at West Elementary this afternoon. I’m pleased to report that all students and staff are safe. As a precaution, we evacuated the building until it was deemed safe for re-entry,” Kooiker’s message stated. “The cause of the alarm was a surge protector from a breaker, which functioned as intended. During the evacuation, the students enjoyed some time on the playground and I’m happy to share that everyone returned safely to the building afterward.”