Ocean Park Elementary closed through March 24 after ‘small’ fire
Published 1:34 pm Thursday, March 20, 2025
- Fire crews were dispatched to Ocean Park Elementary March 19 for a "small" fire in a second-story classroom. The school is closed for the rest of this week as a result of the incident.
OCEAN PARK — A Wednesday, March 19 fire at Ocean Park Elementary that school administrators described as “small” has led to school being shuttered through the beginning of next week.
According to Pacific County Fire District No. 1, the fire department was dispatched to a reported fire alarm activation at OPE at about 11:47 a.m. on March 19. The school was immediately evacuated following the alarm sounding, with all students and staff accounted for.
At the scene within two minutes of dispatch, the arriving chief officer “found the presence of smoke and odor consistent with an active fire,” according to the fire district. Smoke was seen coming from an exterior window on the outside of the building, with PCFD1 upgrading the incident to a working structure fire that brought a response from mutual aid partners.
Fire crews located and confined the fire to a second-floor classroom within 10 minutes of the original dispatch. PCFD1 described the damage caused by the fire as “minimal” and being limited only to the single classroom. OPE was released back to school staff at about 1:33 p.m. — just under two hours after fire crews arrived on the scene.
No injuries were reported, and the cause of the fire remains under investigation.
Ocean Beach School District Superintendent Amy Huntley announced later on March 19 that, while damage from the fire was not widespread, “there is still much that must be done before we can bring students back to the building” and that there would be no school on either Thursday, March 20 or Friday, March 21. She added that direct communication with parents of OPE students will occur as the situation progresses, and community updates will be provided as more is learned.
The next day, Huntley announced that the return date had been pushed back to Tuesday, March 25 at the earliest.
“This requires a number of things to happen on schedule and without further issues, so stay tuned in case there are further delays,” stated Huntley. “And once again, kudos to the Ocean Beach School District staff and students and to Pacific County Fire District No. 1 for quick work to keep everyone safe and to prioritize us returning to school as quickly as possible.”
