Wynot Public Schools fire caused by snow melting, hitting gas line
WYNOT, Neb. -- Students at a northeast public school experienced a fire on Friday while in class.
On Jan. 26 around 1 p.m., Wynot Public Schools evacuated the school due to what some thought was a drill at first but turned out to be a fire on the roof.
The fire was reportedly noticed by students looking out of a classroom window.
Superintendent Paul Hans said that when the fire alarm first went off, it was thought to be a drill. Everyone followed the procedures they were supposed to during a fire.
He said that the smell of smoke and seeing smoke coming from the roof helped them determine that it wasn't a drill.
Hans said that when a fire was spotted they moved the students to the parish hall so that students could be picked up by their parents. This allowed the firefighters to be able to do what they needed to do.
Until the fire department got there, Hans said he and others got fire extinguishers and went to see what they could do to control the fire.
"What caused the fire was, it was a warmer day and some snow had slid off of the gym and hit a gas line, cracked the gas line, and some gas flowed out and there was an ignition source about 10 feet away with another roof appliance and it ignited the gas," Hans said. "The gas fed back to the crack and we had a blow torch basically coming out of that gas line."
Hans said the gas was feeding the fire and creating more fire on the gym roof.
"So, not only was there a gas line on fire, it was also causing the roof to be on fire. So, we had two things going on," Hans said. "But, once we got the gas turned off and then the firefighters could kind of turn their attention to the roof and start the get under the tin; because the fire had kind of crept under the tin and kind of caused some damage in that corner of the gym."