Fire trucks are parked outside F.H. Collins Secondary School in Whitehorse, after the fire was reported around 9:30 a.m. PT Tuesday. (Dave Croft/CBC)F.H. Collins Secondary School in Whitehorse was evacuated Tuesday morning after a small fire began in the school's photocopier room.
School officials say about 600 students and staff were inside when the fire was reported around 9:30 a.m. PT. Teachers and students described the evacuation as being orderly.
"I told them that we had to leave the school immediately and they know the route. We do drills regularly, so it was quite orderly," said teacher Chelsea Kelly-McNally, who was about to hand her students an exam when the fire alarm went off.
"The students were very well behaved, they came out to the grass. It's a beautiful day."
Some students told CBC News they thought the morning alarm was just another fire drill.
Confined to one room
Platoon chief Rob Jack of the Whitehorse fire department said the cause of Tuesday's fire is not believed to be suspicious. (Dave Croft/CBC)Whitehorse fire department platoon chief Rob Jack says the fire was confined to the school's copier room. Several sprinklers in the room kept the fire from spreading until firefighters extinguished it, he added.
"We had a fairly good fire going in the photocopy room, with approximately three to four sprinkler heads activated at that time," Jack said.
"Our crews were able to knock it down and keep the fire contained to that room. We have some smoke throughout the building and we're ventilating at this time, and it appears that there was no other damage."
Jack said the fire appears to have started in some bags of paper in the photocopier room, but he does not believe there was anything suspicious about the cause of the fire.
F.H. Collins vice-principal Jeff Cressman said the biggest disruption from the fire will likely be the closure of the cafeteria, since that area of the school was flooded.
"Shouldn't be that bad of an interruption. Everyone's just kind of just getting ready for exams, anyway," Cressman said.
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