Students and teachers were evacuated from DCHS and DeKalb Middle School Tuesday after a fire started in a rooftop air conditioning unit at the high school.

Director of Schools Patrick Cripps said no one was injured and the students and teachers later returned to class.

“We had an air conditioner unit to catch on fire but the fire was pretty much contained to it,” said Cripps

Aaron Young, a school system maintenance employee, grabbed a fire extinguisher and put out the blaze as the Smithville Volunteer Fire Department was enroute.

Although the fire was in an AC unit on the high school building, Cripps said both the high school and middle school were evacuated as a precaution.

“Our first priority is to our students and Mr. (Randy) Jennings (DCHS Principal), the teachers, and administration did an excellent job of evacuating the students to make sure they were secure,” he said.

According to Director Cripps, the fire caused minor damage to the school roof and very little smoke penetrated into the building. “After making sure the students and teachers are safe then you have to start looking at your facilities to make sure they are okay. Our maintenance staff, Aaron Young, Earl Jared, and Dillon Hicks, along with Mr. Jennings and myself got up on the roof and checked it out. We discovered that the fire had melted the top membrane of the roof but there was no structural damage or anything of that nature. It was confined a very small section. The fire put out a little bit of smoke in the building but not too much. You could smell the scent of smoke a little but it never filled the building,” he said.

In addition to the Smithville Volunteer Fire Department, the Smithville Police Department, and DeKalb EMS responded.

“I want to thank the fire department, police department, EMS, and the utility companies for their quick response,” added Director Cripps.