ST. GEORGE — A fire alarm going off early Wednesday morning at Panorama Elementary School prompted a call to 911. An alert maintenance crew began searching for the cause before firefighters arrived and found the origin in a riser room to the rear of the building.
At 6:40 a.m. the St. George Fire Department was dispatched to Panorama Elementary School at 301 N. 2200 East in St. George after a fire alarm activation alerted the St. George Communications Center.
Upon arrival, smoke could be seen coming from the roof area, St. George Fire Captain Scott Peacock said, adding that the smoke was primarily coming through the vertical risers, which are ducts, pipes or conduits, some of which allow air to escape from the room below. The school’s maintenance crew also told fire crews that smoke appeared to be coming from one of the rooms near the rear of the building.
Fire crews checked the riser room, as well as the attic using thermal imaging equipment but found no heat source consistent with an active fire burning.
As it turned out, the smoke was coming from the belt in a large compressor that had stopped turning while the compressor’s motor continued to run, creating friction that developed into the dark-colored smoke that could be seen escaping through the roof area.
The damage was confined to the compressor in the riser room, Peacock said, and after inspecting the building, no other damage or residual smoke was found.
“Schools have additional firewalls as well, which are designed to partition the fire and keep it contained to that particular area which keeps it from spreading for a certain period of time,” Peacock said.
The fire call caused no interruption to the school schedule, as it was resolved quickly.
“And for the school, it’s business as usual,” Peacock said.
This report is based on statements from police or other responders and may not contain the full scope of findings.
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St. George firefighters respond to a fire alarm at Panorama Elementary School to find smoke coming from the roof of the building, St. George, Utah, Sept. 26, 2018 | Photo by Cody Blowers, St. George News St. George firefighters check the roof of Panorama Elementary School after a compressor malfunctioned and started to burn, St. George, Utah, Sept. 26, 2018 | Photo by Cody Blowers, St. George News St. George firefighters respond to a fire alarm at Panorama Elementary School to find smoke coming from the roof of the building, St. George, Utah, Sept. 26, 2018 | Photo by Cody Blowers, St. George News
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