Schoolhouse Fire Averted by Students
Swift action by pupils and Principal Kirkpatrick saves the White Bluffs grade school from an accidental chimney fire.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Quick and effective work on the part of Principal Ernest Kirkpatrick saved the grade school building Wednesday when sparks from the chimney fell on the soot on the roof and started a blaze. Luckily, it occurred during the recess hour when the children were out at play and it was discovered by them immediately. Fifteen minutes more and the fire would have been beyond control and the building doomed. The school board has taken steps to have screens put over the chimneys to avoid a repetition of the accident.
“Fifteen minutes more and the fire would have been beyond control and the building doomed.”
School safety was a precarious affair in 1924, when structural maintenance was often reactive rather than proactive. This close call echoes the ongoing civic necessity of maintaining public infrastructure—a perennial concern for small towns like White Bluffs that relied heavily on their single school building.
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