By Steve Woodhouse
Around 8:05 a.m. Tuesday morning, the Pella Fire Department was dispatched to
Madison Elementary for a fire alarm.
Fire Chief Randy Bogaard said the department was called off this initial page by a
maintenance worker, but the department was then called back. Smoke began to fill rooms in the building when an air handler motor overheated. Principal John Steddon does not know what caused the motor to overheat, but service technicians are inspecting the system. Madison Elementary opened in 2007, and
Steddon was unsure if any of the HVAC equipment has been replaced since then.
The call came in when there were students inside, on the playground and others were
being dropped off. This added confusion and difficulty in ensuring all students were
safely accounted for
.
Despite that challenge, Police Captain Paul Haase reported that getting the students to their rally points went smoothly. He thanks the fire department, school staff, parents and everyone else who helped keep the children safe. Steddon agreed that the students and staff did a great job. They had not practiced a fire drill for that time of day, and there was the additional challenge of cold weather with some sprinkling rain. Students and staff gathered at an indoor rally point off-campus and stayed there for around 30 minutes.
“Everybody did an amazing job,” Steddon said. “I’m thankful for the Pella Fire Department and Pella Police Department for responding so quickly.” He praised his staff and students and added that the response went really well. No one was injured and the PFD left the school around 9 a.m. The PPD left the scene
around 9:40 a.m.
