Fire Does $25,000 Damage at Dormont Elementary

A fire that broke out on the playground behind Dormont Elementary School on Friday, Nov. 30 did about $25,000 worth of damage to the property, Dormont fire Chief Jeff Arnold said.

The fire damaged a play structure and bench, as well as the rubber mulch surfacing on half of the playground.

Although there is smoke damage on the brick wall of the building up to the second floor, Arnold said there is no structural damage to the building.

The call came in to Dormont Volunteer Fire Department at 5:50 p.m. and the department had it under control within 15 minutes, Arnold said. Fire departments from Mt. Lebanon and Glendale assisted.

Arnold said the department can’t yet confirm that this is an arson case. Because crews on scene were not able to determine the ignition point of the fire, the Allegheny County Fire Marshal was called to investigate, he said.

“Usually we can tell where the ignition point was, if it was electrical or what caused it,” Arnold said. “In this case, we don’t have a definite ignition point so we called in the county fire marshal.”

Arnold said the fire marshal’s report should be available within one or two weeks, at which point the department will be able to confirm whether the fire was arson.

People were inside the building at the time of the fire, but no injuries were reported.

Continue to follow Dormont-Brookline Patch as details become available.

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