A meal warming unit will need to be replaced after it caught fire at Clark-Pleasant Intermediate School twice on Monday.
Fifth-grade students at the school on Sheek Road were finishing lunch when the kitchen appliance that keeps food warm caught on fire, said Director of Curriculum and Instruction Cameron Rains. No one was injured during the incident, Rains said.
When the warming unit first caught on fire, cafeteria employees put it out right away and no alarm went off. But as employees were cleaning the unit, it caught fire again, and the fire alarm went off, Rains said.
Students followed the fire alarm procedure as instructed, Rains said. Sixth-grade students ate lunch at Clark-Pleasant Middle School while the kitchen was cleaned, Rains said. The school was evacuated for 10 minutes.
A fire extinguisher was used to put out the fire, so the cafeteria employees had to clean. Otherwise, the kitchen and the rest of the school building were not damaged, Rains said.
School officials are still investigating why the warming unit caught on fire, Rains said. The warming unit will need to be repaired or replaced, but the kitchen has other warming units to use in the meantime, he said.
A Johnson County health inspector checked the safety and cleanliness of the kitchen, and it has been cleared for serving meals today, Rains said.
