Image Credit: CFJC Today

By Ashley Legassic

PARKCREST FIRE

Report into Parkcrest Elementary fire sheds light into cause, origin

Dec 17, 2019 | 10:10 AM

KAMLOOPS — Kamloops Fire Rescue (KFR) investigators say they may never know exactly what caused a fire that destroyed Parkcrest Elementary School – but they have a good idea.

A report on the Sept. 5 blaze has now been completed by insurance investigators, and KFR Fire Inspector Kevin Cassidy tells CFJC Today the cause of the fire will officially go down as undetermined.

But Cassidy says investigators know the fire began in a concealed space between the school’s roof and dropped ceiling. It sparked near the northwest corner of the structure above a cluster of four classrooms.

That means malfunctions in the electrical or heating-ventilation-air conditioning (HVAC) systems could have been to blame.

“Those are possibilities,” said Cassidy. “We didn’t have enough evidence to get us to a probable cause, a more definitive cause of one of those ignition sources.”

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Cassidy says the fire was burning in the concealed space for “an undetermined period of time” before dropping down into the classrooms and spreading rapidly.

Firefighters responded within six minutes of receiving the report for 9-1-1 dispatch, but Cassidy says thick smoke inside the building meant firefighters had no visibility when they tried to enter.

After the fire was extinguished, investigators weren’t able to access certain areas that could have given them crucial evidence.

“We also had the factor of a heavy steel structure that was unstable,” said Cassidy. “Safety is our number one concern so we can’t send investigators into a building that has a collapse in many places in the building.”

Questions persist about whether a working sprinkler system in the aging structure could have minimized the damage.

“It’s possible that a sprinkler system could have contained it to [the four-classroom] area,” said Cassidy. “When the fire dropped down into the classroom, if you had a sprinkler suppression system working effectively, it could have contained it to those classrooms and then our fire crews could have had an easier time of containing it to that area.”

“We did have a good early notification,” he continued. “The staff did the right thing and called 911 and got out of the building safely. Our fire crews did the best they could to contain it.”

While there may be some disappointment that a definitive cause was not found, Cassidy says the silver lining is that no one was hurt.

“The amount of fire damage, the structural instability made it unsafe to enter certain areas we wanted to have a look at. Unfortunately, that’s what we conclude sometimes,” said Cassidy. “We’re satisfied, most importantly, that none of the staff got hurt and none of our firefighting crews were injured.”