Seattle Fire Dept. crews responded to a fire call at the former Schmitz Park Elementary building at 5000 SW Spokane Street Wednesday morning. It was reportedly an issue with the building's boiler which resulted in smoke and a steam leak, setting off the alarm.
Update: 2:45pm
Seattle Public Schools said that the 911 callout this morning to the former Schmitz Park Elementary school building was a "steam value issue: it’s designed to emit steam when there is a boiler malfunction. Our engineers are working on it."
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Seattle Fire Dept. crews responded to a 911 call Wednesday morning just after 9am to the former Schmitz Park Elementary School at 5000 SW Spokane Street. There was no smoke reported but the Incident commander said that "It appears it was some kind of steam leak inside the boiler room" at the building that had caused staff to call. Tom Redman, facilities Manager for Seattle Public Schools said that Pre-school classes at the school were being moved to another site likely Genesee Hill Elementary for the day but no word yet on whether or when they will resume at the Schmitz Park site.
Seattle public school engineers were on the scene to look at the issue. A pre-school teacher at the scene said, teachers were just arriving when the incident occurred. "The Pre-School Director was here and she came in and the boiler was making funky sounds, she opened the room, smoke came out and set off the alarm. We've had trouble with that boiler."
Before/After School Care thru the Associated Recreation Council is canceled today at the Hiawatha at Schmitz Park site. No further word was disclosed on the pre-school or after school programs.
Redman further explained that there have been no boiler incidents this school year, that the boiler there went through a major tune up and cleaning on Jan. 17 and that boilers across the district are inspected by school district engineers every day, with an annual inspection done by the City of Seattle.
Boilers are the most common kind of heating system for Seattle Public Schools but not the only kind. As a general rule they can and do have minor issues from time to time since they are complex systems and are meant to stay in service for decades.
The District said, "Some of our new schools have ground source systems. They are still central heating systems and have small boilers for backup and additional heating capacity for cold weather. Chief Sealth is a central heating system with 5 condensing boilers. It does have heat pumps in classrooms
