EARLY DETECTION OF SMOKING HEATER PREVENTS FIRE AT EAGLE RIDGE SCHOOL

Eagle Ridge Christian Elementary School staff evacuated students Wednesday after a heater in the building began smoking and threatened to catch fire.

The school, housed in the basement of the Christian Faith Fellowship Church at 207 N. Pindwood, has about 65 students enrolled in kindergarten through sixth grade. The students were taking a bathroom break in the lower-level bathrooms when smoke was noticed by faculty members.

"A heater got plugged in the upstairs baptistry," said Janice Margrabe, administrator of the school. "There was more smoke damage than anything upstairs in the church. The classrooms of the school are in the basement, so we were safe down there."

Margrabe was at the Eagle Ridge high school building when she learned of the fire. The students were evacuated by staff before she and the Cape Girardeau Fire Department arrived at the school.

Fire chief Dan White said there was only minor damage done to a small area in the main level of the church. A fire alarm is always serious when there are people in a building, he said, but this situation was spared from becoming worse because it was detected early.

Firefighters used a positive pressure ventilation fan to force smoke from the building. School was not dismissed, but Margrabe said the rest of the school day would probably be devoted to clean-up activities rather than schoolwork.