Lynnwood Fire Marshall LeRoy McNulty said he’s concerned about a recent rash of small-scale fires at area schools.
For McNulty, the last straw happened the morning of Sept. 26, when firefighters responded to reports of a school fire at College Place Elementary School, 20401 76th Ave. W. The fire started in a restroom trash can and school staff extinguished it before firefighters arrived. The school wasn’t damaged and a juvenile admitted to setting the fire and will be disciplined, according to Lynnwood Fire Department officials.
But McNulty said the fire isn’t an isolated case.
“There’s been a few of them that have occurred over the last few years and it’s starting to concern me a little bit,” he said. “I’m just trying to get the word out that I’m taking it seriously.”
He said other small fires have been extinguished recently at Alderwood Middle School and late last school year at Meadowdale Middle School.
Edmonds School District Spokeswoman Jennifer Piplic said the district coordinates with fire departments when a student is disciplined “for fire-related behavior, and that often includes education and counseling provided by the experts with the fire department.
“All of our middle schools use a program called Safe and Civil School,” she said. “This character education program teaches students about the roles they play as part of their school community and the responsibility that follows their actions at school.”
He said his goal is to work with school officials “to see if they have a larger social problem: Is it a social problem? Is it a statement? Is it vandalism? What’s the cuase of of this,” he said.
McNulty said school staff should be doing more than they are to help address the problem.
“My problem is school administrators want to keep this internal, rather than let me get involved,” McNulty said. “That’s bothersome to me because state law requires they actually report the fire and they’re not doing that. If a kid doesn’t get into the system in any way, then I can’t help them. And the other thing I can’t do is check on any potential fires.”
Piplic said the district is sorry McNulty “has this impression” of the situation.
“We certainly want to continue to build upon the solid working relationship we already have with him, his department, and other fire personnel which serve our district schools,” she said, via e-mail Oct. 7. “We take our responsibility to report these rare situations to appropriate authorities seriously. We will continue to re-emphasize following appropriate procedures with our school officials so we are all working together to address these concerns.”
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