Failed fire inspection, alarm problems among issues documented at Highland High School prior to devastating blaze

Firefighters battle the April 21 blaze at Highland High School in Pocatello. The fire gutted the D Wing of the school.

POCATELLO — The overarching narrative surrounding the fire that gutted Highland High School’s music departments, gym and cafeteria in April is that it could have been much worse.

But fire investigation reports from the Pocatello Fire Department and Idaho State Fire Marshal’s Office as well as Highland’s fire inspection records suggest some of the damage to the school could have possibly been prevented.

The Idaho State Journal recently obtained several documents that detail previous known issues at Highland that contributed to the school failing its most recent fire inspection in November 2022.

The inspection revealed that Highland’s fire alarm system had problems and that curtains located directly adjacent to where the April blaze originated were not fireproof. The inspection gave Highland’s fire-rated, self-closing doors a passing grade, while the fire marshal’s investigative report following the fire says the doors didn’t work and contributed to the spread of the blaze.

According to the investigation reports from both the Pocatello Fire Department and State Fire Marshal’s Office, the April 21 fire that severely damaged the D Wing at Highland High School was accidental in nature and resulted in an estimated $20 million in damage.

The only person injured in the blaze was a Pocatello firefighter who suffered a minor wrist sprain that did not require hospitalization, authorities said.

FIRE ALARM IN ‘TROUBLE MODE’

One of the most distressing findings in both the Pocatello Fire Department and state fire marshal investigation reports is that the fire alarm system at Highland never activated during the fire.

“The fire alarm system was discovered to be inoperative, allowing the fire to rapidly grow from incipient stage to full development before the fire department was notified,” the fire marshal report states.

The Pocatello Fire Department was dispatched to the blaze at 3:58 a.m. on April 21 and arrived on the scene in five minutes, according to the state fire marshal report. At 4:20 a.m., just 17 minutes after firefighters arrived, the roof of Highland’s D Wing collapsed because of the raging flames, the fire marshal report states.

Pocatello Fire Chief Ryan O’Hearn previously said firefighters arrived at Highland within minutes after learning of the blaze via an alarm activation at the school. But the alarm that activated was not the school’s fire alarm. It was a burglary alarm that was triggered by the fire, according to the Pocatello Fire Department’s investigative report on the blaze. A Pocatello police officer and school employee responding to the burglary alarm were the first ones to report that Highland was on fire.

When asked how the fire could have triggered the burglary alarm, School District 25 spokesperson Courtney Fisher said in an email to the Journal that “the security alarm could have been triggered by an electrical surge or power outage. Shortly after the security alarm, one of our maintenance team members also received a high-temp alarm from the freezers located in the cafeteria’s kitchen.”

The Pocatello Fire Department report notes that Highland’s fire alarm system didn’t extend into any part of the D Wing area of the school. But even as the blaze fully engulfed the D Wing, filling much of the rest of the school with smoke, the fire alarm system never activated, the Fire Department’s report states.

Fisher explained in her email that Highland High School’s D Wing met the original fire code requirements, which did not require fire alarm or fire suppression systems. In the subsequent construction of Highland’s A Wing, the district added fire safety features in the D Wing to enhance student and staff safety during school hours, including the addition of manual fire alarm activation pull stations throughout the D Wing’s instructional and activity areas, Fisher said.

“Located near D Wing exits, these pull stations would have been able to be activated in the event of a fire during occupancy of those areas,” Fisher said in her email to the Journal. “During the A Wing construction, the district also added fire suppression sprinklers, warning horns and strobes to the D Wing hallway near the gym, trophy case, restroom and concession stand. While the fire triggered the D Wing’s heat-activated sprinklers, warning horns, and strobes, it is the district’s understanding that the sprinkler flow switch did not trigger the fire alarm system control panel. No additional sprinkler or fire alarm zones throughout the school were activated because the flames or heat of the fire did not impact those areas.”

The Pocatello Fire Department report includes mention of investigators reviewing Highland’s security camera footage to help pinpoint the cause and origin of the blaze. The footage from one of the cameras showed “significant fire activity in the band/choir hallway” at 3:14 a.m., 43 minutes before firefighters were dispatched to the scene.

School District 25 was aware the alarm system was “in trouble” mode because it failed inspection when the Pocatello Fire Department conducted its most recent visit to Highland High School in November 2022.

The Fire Department’s Highland fire inspection report, dated Nov. 28, 2022, states the school’s “fire alarm panel (is) in trouble mode. Needs to be serviced ASAP.”

The Fire Department’s report on the April fire states, “Highland High School was inspected by the Pocatello Fire Inspector on Nov. 28, 2022. At the time of the fire inspection in November, the main panel in the front lobby was in trouble mode. The school representatives were made aware of the alarm system issues and told to have the system inspected ASAP.”

Despite Highland’s fire alarm system being flagged by the Fire Department for having enough problems to be one of the reasons the school failed its fire inspection, School District 25 maintains the system was fully functional at the time of the blaze.

Fisher said via email, “The district incorporates findings from the annual fire inspection reports into its ongoing efforts to maintain or enhance the safety and security of school facilities. As noted in the November 2022 report, the fire alarm system was in the ‘in trouble’ mode at the time of the inspection; however, the system remains fully operational even in this mode.”

Fisher continued, “The remedy is to address each issue and then reset the system. Minor issues such as dusty sensors can trigger the ‘in trouble’ mode. School District 25’s maintenance and operations department works hand-in-hand with Fire Services of Idaho and other vendors to address ongoing system repairs, updates and replacement of fire alarm and fire suppression systems, whether those items are identified through the inspection process or part of the ongoing maintenance schedule.”

CURTAINS WERE NOT FIRE-RATED

Both the Pocatello Fire Department and state fire marshal reports said the cause of the fire was definitively accidental in nature.

The blaze was likely caused by the failure of one of two electrical devices located near the north wall of the stage on the east side of the cafeteria, O’Hearn said days after the fire.

The State Fire Marshal’s Office detailed two potential hypotheses to describe the fire’s sequence of ignition.

One explanation for how the fire started is that a Tomcat floor scrubber plugged into an outlet and stored in a janitorial room near the north side of the stage “sustained an unidentified electrical failure” that then ignited secondary fuels in the janitorial room, the fire marshal report states.

Another explanation, which is described as the “most probable” in the fire marshal report, is that an audio power amplifier located near the stage sustained an “unspecified electrical fault” resulting in a fire that “then ignited the stage curtains that surrounded the audio power amplifier” and spread to other combustible materials.

The curtains that hung near the stage and audio power amplifier were not fire-rated, meaning they were not fire resistant, according to the Fire Department’s November fire inspection report.

The Fire Department’s November fire inspection report gave Highland a failing grade because of several violations, including curtains at the school that were not fire-rated.

“Curtains must be fire-rated for use,” the Fire Department stated in its report.

Fisher confirmed in her email to the Journal that the combustible curtains surrounding Highland’s stage had not been replaced with fire-rated curtains even after the Fire Department expressed its concerns in November.

When asked why the curtains were not replaced, Fisher said, “School District 25 continually evaluates the needs of its facilities and maintains a detailed schedule for the maintenance. This ongoing effort requires the prioritization of projects to accomplish with the finite resources of taxpayer dollars. Limited resources combined with maintenance work orders in excess of 1,500 to 2,000 per month require the district to often complete projects and address issues identified in phases.”

FIRE-RATED DOORS DID NOT ACTIVATE

Another potential contributing factor to the spread of the Highland blaze was School District 25’s failure to maintain fire-rated, self-closing doors in the hallway leading from the stage to the choir and band room corridor in the D Wing, according to the state fire marshal report.

The doors are designed to close on their own and latch in the event of a fire.

But that didn’t happen during the blaze at Highland.

After the stage curtains potentially caught fire from the audio power amplifier and spread to other combustible materials, the flames “spread vertically into the roof truss area and horizontally through the fire doors that were not maintained,” the fire marshal report states.

“Defects were observed that would have substantially contributed to the fire’s spread, specifically, the failure to maintain fire doors leading from the stage to the choir/band room corridor,” according to the fire marshal report.

The Pocatello Fire Department investigation report states that firefighters had to manually close the fire-rated doors while battling the blaze.

But according to the Fire Department’s fire inspection completed in November, Highland’s fire-rated doors passed.

Still, the doors were examined in February 2023 during a routine fire drill at the school and issues were noted at that time, according to an invoice sent to School District 25 from the Chubbuck-based Fire Services of Idaho.

The invoice states Fire Services of Idaho “determined that the (self-closing) door control board needs to be looked at by a certified door company.”

When asked why Highland’s fire-rated, self-closing doors were not working and what the district was doing to correct the issue, Fisher said via email, “As noted in the November 2022 report, the self-closing doors in the D Wing passed the annual inspection. All School District 25 schools are required to perform routine monthly fire drills. Fire Services of Idaho was unable to service the self-closing door due to the proprietary system of a vendor located out of town. Prior to the fire, the district had already initiated plans to replace the fire control panel with that work scheduled for completion in July as part of its ongoing Capital Improvement Plan. Moving forward, the district is working to eliminate any proprietary equipment to ensure that it can be serviced locally.”

Some other minor issues were noted in the fire investigation reports.

According to the Pocatello Fire Department report, “water supply issues initially prevented development of an effective master stream. Assistance (was) requested from (the Pocatello) water department to bump main line pressure, which had a positive effect on stream production.”

O’Hearn told the Journal during a recent phone interview that water flow on the city’s benches is always pressure controlled and that the massive response to the Highland fire by the Fire Department placed “an extraordinary demand on the system.”

O’Hearn continued, “We do coordinate with the water department when battling fires in areas that are pressure controlled so I wouldn’t say that request was extraordinary as far as there being existing problems in the system. It was just that this was a huge demand on the system and we needed to have them increase the pressure.”

INSURANCE CLAIM AND REBUILDING PROCESS

Fisher said that while the insurance investigation is still ongoing, the Highland fire has been ruled accidental and is considered a loss that will be covered by insurance. School District 25’s insurance provider is the Boise-based Idaho Counties Risk Management Program.

“The district is working closely with its insurance carrier,” Fisher said via email. “While the investigation is still in the evaluation phase, the fire is being considered an accidental loss and a covered loss. In review with the insurance carrier, the district confirmed that no penalties have been applied for any reason.”

She continued, “The insurance investigation is being conducted with the highest standard of thoroughness and professionalism.”

In the blaze’s aftermath, Fisher said the district has serviced the fire alarm system control panels at every one of its schools.

When asked what the district’s message would be to local residents concerned about Highland’s failed fire inspection and the investigative findings revealed by the Fire Department and state fire marshal regarding the fire, Fisher pointed out that School District 25 is responsible for the upkeep of 28 buildings, 1.6 million square feet of building space and 29 gyms and multipurpose areas.

“From roof repairs to security system upgrades, the school district prioritizes its responsibility to provide continual maintenance and upkeep of facilities in order to maintain healthy and safe learning environments,” Fisher said. “Over the past several years, the district has made significant investments in upgrading safety and security systems, including the upgrade of more advanced fire alarm systems in nine schools since 2020.”

She continued, “The district has taken steps to proactively address issues and incorporate lessons learned in the aftermath of the fire. These steps include raising awareness for district safety protocols and reporting requirements.… School District 25 has a high standard of safety and will continue to raise the level of that.”

Fisher explained that School District 25’s goal is to resume in-person learning at Highland High School for the 2023-24 school year. Following the fire, Highland students finished the school year by splitting their time between distance learning and attending in-person classes at Century High School.

“The district is waiting for the completion of the (insurance) investigation and release of the burn-out site before it can move forward with any demolition or reconstruction,” Fisher said via email. “Items such as stage curtains, fire alarm and suppression systems and other items will be replaced based on today’s fire safety standards, which will be a benefit to the district.”

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