Fire Cancels Class At Priest River Workers Cleaning Up Smoke Damage At High School

An early morning fire damaged a classroom at Priest River Lamanna High School Wednesday, forcing the school to cancel classes for its 520 students.

The fire, possibly caused by electrical wiring, was reported at 6:45 a.m. No students or teachers were in the building at the time.

“It looked like it may have started outside a special education classroom where some wiring is located,” said Bonner County Superintendent Max Harrell.

“We have some smoke damage throughout the school but most of it was contained to that one classroom.”

The Priest River Fire Department caught the blaze early enough to prevent serious damage to the eight-year-old building. Bus drivers also were notified immediately so they could reverse their routes and take students back home.

Harrell hoped to have the school cleaned so classes could resume today. Maintenance crews already were in the building, removing charred material and shampooing carpets to rid the school of the smoke smell.

“We hope to have kids back in school this week, but we won’t be able to make a final decision until we hear from the fire marshal,” Harrell said.

The state fire marshal was on the scene Wednesday investigating the cause of the fire.

The school trustees had a meeting slated for Wednesday night at Priest River Elementary School and planned to inspect the damage at the high school.

, DataTimes