The origin of Thursday’s fire at Olmsted Falls Middle School was determined to be a toilet paper roll in a boys’ restroom which had been intentionally ignited. A student has confessed to lighting the fire and has been removed from Olmsted Falls Middle School. District discipline policies are being implemented and the matter has also been turned over to the Olmsted Township Police Department.

“We were able to identify the student responsible for starting the fire by the end of the day on Thursday,” said Mr. Mark Kurz, principal at Olmsted Falls Middle School. “The safety of our students is our top priority and we take an incident like this very seriously.”

Parents were notified of the incident through a message posted on the District website as well as through a personal phone message from Mr. Kurz.

A fire was discovered in the boys’ restroom at Olmsted Falls Middle School on the afternoon of Thursday, September 20, 2007. The fire alarm was immediately activated and standard emergency evacuation procedures began with all students and staff safely exiting the building. A call was immediately made to 911 upon discovery of the fire, and several fire department units from Olmsted Falls, Olmsted Township and North Olmsted responded and extinguished the fire. No structural damage occurred to the building.

Fire officials deemed the building safe to re-enter and students and staff returned to the building and resumed classes approximately 1 hour after the evacuation occurred.

Please contact Principal Kurz at Olmsted Falls Middle at 427-6200 with further questions about the incident.