Apr 30, 2013 2 min read

A kitchen fire in the Canon-McMillan High School cafeteria forced the building’s evacuation and eventual early dismissal of students Tuesday afternoon.

Crews were called to the school about 11:30 a.m. during third-period lunch when a dryer apparently became clogged and caught fire, igniting dish towels and oven mitts inside, North Strabane fire Chief Mark Grimm said.

Students immediately left the building and were dismissed from school at 1:15 p.m. because food could no longer be served to the 800 students waiting to eat during the two remaining lunch periods. No students or teachers were injured or suffered any respiratory problems, Grimm said.

“The teachers and administrators did an outstanding job with the evacuation,” Grimm said. “They made our job very easy. They knew where everyone was, and all the students were accounted for. They did a great job.”

Grimm said a custodian used a fire extinguisher to contain the blaze until firefighters arrived. The fire caused no damage to the building, but the dry chemical substance in the extinguisher forced the kitchen to be cleaned before food could be served again.

“We do a lot of fire extinguisher training with the district,” Grimm said. “They were prepared because we do quite a bit of fire training with them.”

Canon-McMillan Assistant Superintendent Scott Chambers said people were able to re-enter the building about 20 minutes after the evacuation, and no after-school or evening activities were affected by the fire.

“The (evacuation) went as best as it could,” Chambers said. “All of the procedures were followed, and the students were evacuated with everyone’s safety in mind.”

Chambers said he expected classes and the lunch schedule to resume Wednesday with no problems or delays.