Student charged in school bathroom fire

Dudley, N.C. — Wayne County authorities have filed juvenile charges against a Southern Wayne High School student in connection with a fire in a school bathroom on Tuesday.

The 15-year-old, whose name wasn't released because of his age, was charged in a juvenile petition with burning a school building. He was being held Wednesday at the Greenville Juvenile Detention Center.

Several rolls of toilet paper had been piled on a handicapped rail in a stall in a boys bathroom and set on fire, authorities said. The fire also consumed a toilet paper dispenser before Deputy Russell Rice, the school resource officer, and a school staff member were able to extinguish it, authorities said.

About 1,100 students and staff had to evacuate the building, and Rice was taken to Wayne Memorial Hospital for treatment of smoke inhalation, authorities said.

Investigators reviewed a videotape from a school security camera near the bathroom and identified a student who was in the area shortly before the fire was reported. The student later told investigators that he started the fire because he was bored, but when he couldn't put it out, he returned to his class without telling anyone about it, authorities said.

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colliedave, even a small fire like that would have set the fire alarms off. it's not as if the administration decided to evacuate once they knew about the fire. i'm sure their first awareness of the fire came when the alarms went off. when i was first teaching, i knew a teacher accidentally set off the alarms (and thus caused the evacuation of the school) b/c she burned popcorn really badly.

carolinagirl75
February 25, 2009 9:26 p.m.

Publish the boy's name--he needs to be outed. And then make him (NOT his parents) pay for the deputy's hospitalisation, the costs to the fire department, and to the repair of the school.

LibertarianTechie
February 25, 2009 9:07 p.m.

You're right colliedave. I teach high school and I carry a pail of water around with me all the time. Do you carry a pail of water around with you also colliedave?

If there is a fire in a school building, the administration is REQUIRED to evacuate the school. Explain to the fire marshall why you kept kids in the building while a fire was allowed to "burn itself out".

daMoFo
February 25, 2009 9:01 p.m.

This could have been SO MUCH WORSE! Thank goodness no one was hurt...

CherryDarling
February 25, 2009 8:51 p.m.

colliedave-You must be about 16 years old. Your response sounds like the random excuses of a student. The Admin. followed procedure. They didn't know that it was just a small fire. It's better they did it this way than for it to have been a real big fire and not have followed procedure. By the way arson is a criminal offense and the deputy would then take over not the school. I bet you want to be in the ACLU when you grow up.