ONA, W.Va. — A Cabell County school custodian was taken to a hospital after suffering smoke inhalation in a Thursday morning fire at Cabell Midland High School in Ona that forced the closure of the school for the day.
School system spokesman Jeff Flowers said a stove caught on fire as students in a food prep class were cleaning it some time after 9 a.m. He said the small fire created a lot of smoke.
“The kids got out of the room. The custodian and the teacher went in and tried to open and put a fire extinguisher on it. The custodian took on quite a bit of smoke, both of them did. They were both checked out and they went ahead and took the custodian to the hospital,” Flowers said.
The smoke spread through the sprawling building, forcing the evacuation of all students, faculty and staff. School was then cancelled for the day.
“We practice this quite a bit,” Flowers said. “The school reacted very quickly. The principal had them out of the building very quickly, there in the stadium.”
Buses arrived at about 11 a.m.
Flowers expects there to e a regular schedule Friday.
“It is hard to control smoke and it goes everywhere. Our ventilation system will work it out. It just takes a few hours,” he said.