No one was hurt and little damage was incurred in a garbage can
fire at Live Oak High School in Morgan Hill Wednesday morning, but
it was the fourth such incident in recent weeks and fire officials
and school staff are trying to identify who is responsible for the
continuing arson.
Morgan Hill
No one was hurt and little damage was incurred in a garbage can fire at Live Oak High School Wednesday morning, but it was the fourth such incident in recent weeks and fire officials and school staff are trying to identify who is responsible for the continuing arson.
Firefighters responded to a report of a fire at the school about 10:40 a.m. Wednesday. They arrived to find a garbage can next to the school’s cafeteria had been intentionally set ablaze. A teacher had already used a fire extinguisher to put out the flames before emergency personnel got there, according to Santa Clara County Fire Department Capt. Debbie Stocksick.
The burned trash receptacle was bolted to the concrete floor against an exterior corner of the cafeteria building, which is on the east side of the Live Oak campus. Minor smoke damage, which Stocksick estimated at about $500, was visible on the outside wall and roof overhang surrounding the fire.
Firefighters examined the attic space with a heat-detecting thermal imaging camera to ensure the fire had not spread into the building’s interior.
“The heat had already dissipated (when firefighters arrived). If the teacher had not extinguished it, the fire could have caused a lot more damage,” Stocksick said.
The fire occurred during morning break, and students and faculty were evacuated into the school’s parking areas. They returned to third period within minutes of the fire department arriving.
Stocksick said a similar fire took place Tuesday at the school, though the fire department was not called to that one. Two previous garbage can fires, to which firefighters did respond, have been set at the Live Oak campus in recent weeks, making Wednesday’s the fourth since the school year started.
“We’ve asked the school to always let us know if there’s another incident,” said Stocksick.
Live Oak High School principal Nick Boden, addressing the student body over the school intercom system moments after they returned to class, offered a $100 reward for information on who set the most recent fire, which he said is “not a random act.”
“We’ve had a few incidents like this in the last few weeks, but none to this extent,” said Boden over the intercom. “This kind of behavior endangers the teachers and other students, and it is unacceptable.”
He thanked teacher Moe Davies for her “rapid response” in extinguishing the fire.
Stocksick said during break, the students do not normally hang out in the area where the fire was set. The fire department’s investigator and school staff will review campus security cameras to see if they can determine who set the fire, Stocksick said.
