UPDATE: Fire call at former Schmitz Park Elementary building turns out to be boiler problem

| West Seattle news | WS breaking news

(WSB photo by Christopher Boffoli)

9:17 AM: Big SFD response to the former Schmitz Park Elementary School building, 5000 SW Spokane. Crews on scene are finding smoke but not its source.

9:19 AM: What crews are seeing is now described as a “large volume of steam,” but no related fire, so far.

9:35 AM: WSB’s Christopher Boffoli reports that the response is winding down. The building, by the way, is currently used primarily for child care outside school hours, though the district is taking another look at its future (separate story later). Christopher says he’s told that the students who would be brought to the SP building after school today will stay at Genesee Hill instead.

9:43 AM: Christopher also has just found out that this indeed was a steam issue in the boiler room. Seattle Public Schools engineers are on scene. No one was hurt.

Amy May 24, 2017 (9:24 am)

But did you see how many units were called out? 19 by my count. Did they think kids were still in the building?

WSB May 24, 2017 (9:31 am)

That’s the standard callout for a “fire in a building,” regardless of who might be in the building.
- WS May 24, 2017 (9:35 am)
  
  Amy – there are kids are in the building. During the day there is a preschool and in the afternoons it holds the GHES after care program.

Rle May 24, 2017 (9:48 am)

Hiawatha Preschool uses the building now for their pre-school from ~9-1 pm. Were they there during this time?

Betsy Ford May 24, 2017 (10:51 am)

No kids in the building at the time, preschool starts at 9:30 & our teacher discovered the problem and called 911.