Tanaina school fire deemed suspicious

The small fire that forced the evacuation of Tanaina Elementary school last week is still under investigation and state of Alaska fire marshals are calling the blaze "suspicious."

"There is nothing where that fire occurred that could have caused that fire -- there had to be human intervention," said Kelly Nicolello, deputy director of the State Fire Marshall's Office. Nicolello visited the scene of the fire and became suspicious not so much because of what he found, but because of what he didn't find.

"It was a converted shower stall that was used for storage," Nicolello said. "There's no electricity in the room other than the overhead lights." With no apparent source of heat or spark in the storage area, Nicolello said there must have been human intervention, but he wouldn't speculate on whether the fire was set by accident or on purpose. To find the answer to that question, Alaska State Troopers, state fire marshals and Mat-Su Borough Emergency services personnel are conducting a joint investigation.

Trooper Captain Simon Brown II said that not knowing the cause of a fire -- especially in a school -- can be frustrating for public safety officials.

"The frustrating part is not being able to give parents the information that they need," Brown said. "I don't think any of us want to believe that anybody would have tried to set the school on fire on purpose -- and right now we have no reason to believe that anybody did that."

Brown said troopers were interviewing everyone known to be in the area around the time of the fire. As of press time, only adults have been interviewed, but Brown said children might need to be interviewed next.

"We hope that someone might come forward, and say that they did this and that it was their mistake." Brown said he hoped the Christmas break would give troopers enough time to close the case before Tanaina opens its doors in January.

According to Nicolello the fire had a chance to burn hot before triggering the school's sprinkler system. That's because the converted shower also had a steam duct leading directly outside.

"The environmental duct acted as a heat release," Nicolello said, "so the material would burn without creating a huge amount of smoke."

This complicates the investigation because the fire might have burned long enough to cover up traces of exactly what started it in the first place.

Nicolello said he didn't find traces of anyone smoking, or of any fuel other than the paper that was stored in the area.

Nicolello also said he found no evidence that liquid fuel had been spilled there either.

"But that doesn't mean for sure that there wasn't [a spill] there, because there was enough combustible material in that room that it could have burned it all up." Nicollelo added that it was common to find storage areas stacked with combustibles, so that aside from its steam duct the converted shower wasn't much different from other closets.

"It had a very high combustion load, but most storage rooms are like that," Nicollelo said.

The school district isn't conducting an investigation of its own at this time, according to Mat Su Borough School District spokeswoman Kim Floyd. However, if the troopers do find a firestarter at Tanaina, someone is in big trouble.

"We are not speculating as to the cause of the fire," Floyd sai., "The investigation is where it needs to be and that's in the hands of the authorities." Floyd said that if the district gets proof the fire was was started on purpose, a student could face expulsion or an employee could be dismissed.

"It is a threat to the safety of our students and staff, and we take that very seriously," Floyd said. "If it was accidentally set, that's an entirely different matter, because we'll have to investigate whether or not there was negligence -- either way, there are serious consequences because our people were put in danger."

In the meantime, district officials are waiting for the trooper investigation to run its course.

Public safety and school district officials said the Tanaina evacuation went smoothly. No one was hurt in the incident and students and staff of the district's largest elementary school were bused to Wasilla Middle School while cops and firefighters convened at Tanaina Elementary.