A small fire started tonight in a science room at Chief Umtuch Middle School in Battle Ground. A fire sprinkler had activated in the room, suppressing the fire and keeping it contained to the room, said Clark County Fire & Rescue Battalion Chief Tim Dawdy. The sprinkler activation triggered an alarm to summon firefighters, who finished extinguishing the fire once they arrived.
At 9:20 p.m., firefighters with Clark County Fire & Rescue were dispatched to the school, at 700 N.W. Ninth St. When they arrived, they found a small fire in room 185, a science classroom, according to emergency radio traffic monitored at The Columbian.
The fire is under investigation by the Clark County Fire Marshal’s Office, Dawdy said, but it appeared that a heat lamp inside an animal terrarium sparked the fire, and that flames spread to a nearby bookshelf.
Reporting on lives and property saved by fire sprinklers
