Primary / Secondary School, School / University Burley, ID – Arson fire at elementary school extinguished by sprinkler system May 22, 2017 viking210 A student is suspected of lighting a roll of toilet paper and some paper towels on fire Friday damaging a bathroom and temporarily evacuating White Pine Intermediate School. “The fire was extinguished by the sprinkler system,” Debbie Critchfield, spokeswoman for the district said. An investigation into the incident is being conducted by the Burley Fire Department and the Cassia County Sheriff’s Office. The fire was started around 9 a.m. in the fourth-grade wing in the boys’ bathroom. “They have a suspect,” Critchfield said. The fire department was called to the school and the firefighters made sure the blaze was extinguished. The firefighters then reset the sprinkler system, which meant the fire system was down for about an hour at the school. Students were returned to their classrooms, except for the two classes that were affected by the cleanup, Principal Matt Seely said in a text message to parents Friday. Those students were supervised by their teachers in the gym. There is fire damage in the restroom and water damage in the hallway and in a classroom directly across the hall from the bathroom. When the water is dried, maintenance will determine what repairs need to be made, Critchfield said.
