Deerfield Primary School was evacuated Thursday morning after a small fire in an electrical room filled the building with smoke.
Blair, Fort Calhoun and Kennard firefighters responded to the school at approximately 8:30 a.m. All students, staff and administrators were evacuated to the Blair Public Library by the time firefighters arrived.
“We found smoke in the north end of the building,” Blair Fire Chief Dave Aten said. “They were doing some mechanical work and had some residual oil in a piece of equipment that caught it on fire. The worker put it out with a fire extinguisher, but we had smoke and dust from the fire extinguisher in that end of the building.”
Blair Community Schools Supt. Randy Gilson said an HVAC unit was being repaired at the time of the fire.
Aten said damage from the fire is likely minimal.
“Basically, it's just contained to that room. I doubt there will be any damage. If anything, it may be to that unit,” he said.
Fort Calhoun and Kennard firefighters responded for mutual aid to help air out the building.
“When we have a big area like this we've got to have a lot of fans to move the air to get it out,” Aten said. “It was contained to that end of the building, but we didn't want it to come to the (south) end.”
Students had barely gotten into their classrooms at the time of the fire. Gilson praised teachers and students for quickly evacuating.
“The teachers and the kids were amazing,” he said. “They were in the building before the fire trucks got here and the fire trucks were here fast.”
Gilson was also thankful for the city for opening the library for the students.
“We're so lucky it's so close,” he said.
Parents were notified immediately about the fire. Teachers kept students occupied, reading stories and doing other activities in the library. Buses were brought in to take students, many of whom did not have coats, back to the school if possible.
If students were able to return to the building before 11 a.m., classes would resume. If not, Gilson said parents would be notified to pick up their children at the Blair Public Library. If parents could not pick up their children, they would finish the day at the library.
There are 285 PK-2 students and approximately 42 teacher and staff at Deerfield.
