Three fires set in Port Angeles High school restrooms

PORT ANGELES — Three separate fires set in restrooms at Port Angeles High School on Tuesday morning did not disrupt class, school officials said.

Firefighters responded to the first call of a fire in each of the men’s and women’s restrooms in the 500 building about 11 a.m., said Port Angeles Police School Resource Officer Gerald Swayze.

The two restrooms are accessed from exterior doors.

Fifteen minutes later, another fire was discovered in a women’s restroom in the interior of the school’s 100 building.

All three fires were started in either the paper towel or toilet seat cover dispensers, Swayze said.

The Port Angeles Fire Department was called and the fires were extinguished without incident, he said.

Swayze said there was no structural damage. However, there was some smoke and heat damage.

Swayze said there are multiple suspects.

Principal aids firefighting

Principal Scott Harker lent a hand to the firefighting effort.

He used a fire extinguisher from a nearby science classroom to extinguish the fire in the interior restroom started in a toilet seat cover dispenser.

“It was fortunate,” Harker said.

“The timing, the location — primarily the timing.”

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