Old Ashtola school house burns

This historic Ashtola school building went up in flames Tuesday afternoon after an accidental grassfire got into the structure, and local officials are reminding everyone of how dangerous conditions are for fire this week.

Clarendon Fire Chief Jeremy Powell said local volunteer firemen were called out about noon April 10 after a rural resident, attempting to smoke out honey bees occupying their front porch, accidentally set their yard on fire.
This resulted in one occupied structure being threatened, 10-15 acres of grass being destroyed, and the 1930s-era school building going up in flames.

“We saved the house, but just the brick walls are all that’s left of the school,” Powell said.

Powell said everyone needs to be particularly careful this week – Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday – as temperatures are expected rise into the 90s with wind speeds up to 45 mph.

“We are in extremely critical danger right now,” Powell said. “Everyone needs to avoid doing anything that has any chance of starting a fire because anything could turn out catastrophic very quickly.”

Last Monday and Tuesday, local and area firemen were called to battle a wildfire at Goodnight that ultimately burned 14,824 acres.

Also last Tuesday evening, a disaster was narrowly avoided at a house fire at Fifth and McLean Streets in Clarendon. The Jason Morrow family said they smelled smoke but initially dismissed it because they thought it was the fire at Goodnight. They soon discovered the smell was coming from their home.

With most of Clarendon’s department at Goodnight, two local trucks responded to the call at the Morrow house, assisted by one firetruck from Mobeetie that was in town for supper. Powell said the fire was determined to be electrical in nature and caused only minimal damage to the home.