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| December 20, 2007 |
| School evacuated after heating unit catches fire: Paw Paw |
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Students, teachers and employees at Paw Paw Schools were evacuated Thursday morning after a wall heating unit in a third-grade classroom caught fire, according to a spokesman with the Paw Paw Volunteer Fire Department.
No one was injured in the fire, which was isolated to the classroom — about 20 by 15 feet in size — and caused about $20,000 worth of damage, said Lt. Joshua Carder. About 200 students attend Paw Paw Schools, which serves kindergarten through 12th grade. The school is located about 25 miles west of Berkeley Springs. Carder said the West Virginia Fire Marshal based in Romney was on the scene Thursday morning trying to determine what caused the wall heating unit to catch on fire. “It burned up the teacher’s desk and computer (in the classroom),” he said. “It didn’t spread to any other classroom.” Students were evacuated to the nearby Paw Paw Volunteer Fire Department about 200 feet from the school and then released to go home. “They had all of the kids warm and safe,” said former Paw Paw Mayor Julie Kidwell, who works nearby as the town recorder. Kidwell lauded the teachers who she said did an “excellent job” of evacuating students. “The children and the adults were safe, and that is what is important,” said Joan Willard, assistant superintendent for Morgan County Schools. Willard said some children were still arriving for school when the fire was reported. Carder said Paw Paw firefighters received the fire call about 7:45 a.m. “We had multiple companies respond,” he said. Volunteer firefighters from Berkeley Springs, Great Cacapon, Slanesville, Reynolds Store in Va., and Old Town, Md., responded to the fire. Carder said students meet in the school’s cafeteria at the start of the day and are escorted to their classrooms when the learning day starts at 8 a.m. Willard said she arrived on the scene at 8:30 a.m. Students will not have classes today because Friday had already been designated as a faculty senate and staff development day. Willard said teachers will report to school today. Classes will resume for Paw Paw students on Jan. 2. Carder said firefighters stayed on the scene about 3 1/2 hours. “The room itself was completely black,” he said. “No flames were going through the roof.” This incident occured in Morgan County. |
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Story by: Sherree Grebenstein Source: The Journal |
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