A fire in a bathroom at the Eastwood Elementary School on November 8 at 2:45 p.m. caused both students and staff to use their newly acquired Fire Safety Week knowledge and the newly implemented Ed-Connect Telephone System technology.

No one was harmed, but “the smoke got everywhere and took several days to clean,” said Principal Brian Carter. “We also did repainting. Folks were here cleaning up for several days after, so [the damages] must have been pretty expensive.”

According to The Chronicle-Telegram, the fire in a bathroom at Eastwood Elementary School that caused $25,000 to $30,000 in damage earlier this month was started by a seven-year-old boy playing with a lighter.

Ed-Connect played a part in keeping panic at a minimum. The system, which enables educators to call the parents of all the students at a school simultaneously, was “such a great tool to have at that time,” said Carter. 

Carter said, “It was Fire Safety Week. They learned about safety topics — what to do when they see smoke. There’s also a program that the local fire department does for parents who catch their kids playing with matches that we let the parents know about.”

When asked if students implemented what they had learned, Carter said, “Yes, a few classes saw smoke, so they knew it was a real evacuation. They got low because they knew that smoke rises. They followed instructions and stayed quiet and calm. Nobody went back in the building for coats.”

Another positive outcome of the event, according to Carter, was that “all the support staff, including college volunteers, stayed later than they had to at the evacuation site, College Manor Apartments. Many America Reads tutors stayed with kids and did a great job keeping everyone calm. We ran dismissal from that spot.”