Fire Department Responds to Electrical Fire at Lincoln Elementary

Mount Vernon, WA – The Mount Vernon Fire Department was dispatched at 8:43 a.m. on February 8th, 2017 to a fire in a building at Lincoln Elementary School located at 1005 S. 11th Street in Mount Vernon.

Due to the potential life threat and size of the building, the response was quickly upgraded to a second alarm fire to ensure an adequate number of fire personnel would be on scene to handle the emergency.

Firefighters and Emergency Vehicles responded  from all three  Mount Vernon Fire Stations as well as mutual aid personnel from the City Of Burlington Fire Department, the City of Sedro-Woolley Fire Department  and Skagit County Fire District 3.  Big Lake Fire District 9 responded to Mount Vernon to cover additional calls in the City.

Upon arrival on scene, fire units found fire and smoke coming from the ceiling of the gymnasium inside the school. School teachers and staff had evacuated the building prior to the Fire Department arriving.   Students and School employees were taken via buses to another nearby school.

According to a release by Mount Vernon Fire Captain Mike O’Dell, initial knockdown of the fire occurred within minutes of the fire department arriving.  The fire’s location added a complexity for final extinguishment. The fire was extinguished within 45-minutes of crews arriving after a mechanical lift was brought to the school to aid firefighters.

Puget Sound Energy responded to the scene and disconnected power to the building and fire Crews remained on scene until just after 11:30 a.m.

A preliminary investigation of the cause of the fire, indicates the fire may have been caused by an electrical malfunction.

Initial damages are estimated to be around $10,000.