Students and staff safe following fire at Olympia high school and middle school

Posted on April 13, 2023
Bloomington Fire Truck at Olympia High School. (Photo/Blake Haas)

By Jake Fogal

UPDATES PROVIDED BY WMBD-TV

UPDATED – The cause of fire is still being investigated but Mt. Hope-Funks Grove Fire Chief Eric Fulk said it involved solar panels.

Around 12:50 pm fire units were dispatched to the school because of a fire on the gym roof. It took about 30 minutes to control the fire. It did not spread to any other parts of the building. The damage inside is from smoke and water.

Students were evacuated within three minutes. Families were able to unite with the close to 700 students at Minier Christian Church about 10 minutes away.

“”Doing those fire drills with the school and having the safety meetings that we’ve had with them everything from my side went well,” said Fulk.

Superintendent Laura O’Donnell said they have periodic drills and meetings with first responders throughout the year. The school actually had a drill planned for Friday. O’Donnell said the responders’ familiarity with the building was the reason everything went as well as it did on Thursday.

“This is why we practice these drills all the time. The response has been amazing from all of the communities. So, we’re very thankful. And even though we’re out here in the middle of nowhere the response time was relatively short,” said O’Donnell.

UPDATE (6:40 p.m.) — No classes for middle and high school students on Friday, April 14. No remote classes because laptops are on campus.

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STANFORD – Olympia high school and middle school campus in Stanford suffered from a fire this afternoon after 1:00 p.m.

All students and staff have been accounted for and are evacuated and safe.

School officials are asking that the public stay away from school grounds at this time.

High school students that drove were released to go home and all other students were evacuated to the Minier Christian Church, where parents were asked to pick them up.

The Olympia School District announced on Facebook that all after school events at both the high school and middle school have been cancelled for this evening.

This story will be updated as more information is released.

Jake Fogal can be reached at [email protected].

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