Arson suspected in community center fire

By: 
Ron Burtz

The cause of a suspicious Sunday evening fire in Custer Community Center—formerly Custer Elementary School—at the intersection of 4th and Crook streets is under investigation by the Custer County Sheriff’s Office. Fire resources from around the area, including a ladder truck from Rapid City, were called in to help battle the blaze which appeared to have been contained to the old school kitchen.
Deputy Sheriff Dave Clevenger was on his way home from his shift shortly before 6 p.m. when he smelled smoke. He said normally he would not have been too concerned, but since it was windy and there was a red flag warning out that day, he decided to investigate. What he found was black smoke coming from the east side of the school building where the school gym/lunchroom was located. Clevenger reported the situation to Custer County Dispatch and he and another deputy entered to the building to make sure no one was inside.
Assistant fire chief Jim Lyon II said crews from Custer Fire Department arrived at 6:04 p.m. and proceeded to gain access to the building through an overhead loading dock door on the northeast side of the building and a walk-in door to the gym where they discovered active fire in the kitchen area between the gym and dock.
“It was pretty much contained to that room of origin, so the fire crews made the attack on the fire and got a knockdown on it,” said Lyon, adding that hose lines were run into the building from both directions.
Lyon said the fire was in items stored in the room such as exercise equipment and cleaning supplies as well as ceiling tiles and moldings. He believes that was the point of origin.
“Anything combustible was on fire in that room,” he said.
Once the flames were knocked down, firefighters turned their attention to venting the smoke that had collected in the high ceiling of the gym.
“We didn’t know if the fire had gotten into any of the rest of the building, so we wanted to be prepared in the event that was the case,” said Lyon in explaining the reason for calling in the ladder truck from Rapid City.
With the arrival of the truck at about 7 p.m., several firefighters were dispatched to the roof of the gym with pikes and axes to open up holes to vent out the smoke.
Sheriff Marty Mechaley said Tuesday he has several deputies looking into the cause of the blaze which is being investigated as a case of arson. Mechaley said officers looked at outside security camera video from the Custer County Library for clues and have identified suspects who are juveniles.
When the initial alarm was sounded, several Custer firefighters and resources were on the scene of a fire in Pennington County between Keystone and Hermosa. The George F­ire near Rushmore Cave gutted a home and then spread to nearby land where it burned about 15 acres of grass while threatening other structures. The fire crews were called back to Custer to assist with the situation there.
Also on scene at that fire was Pennington County fire administrator Jerome Harvey and a representative of the state fire marshal’s office, both of whom headed for Custer.
Other responding agencies included Custer County Emergency Management director Steve Esser, Custer Ambulance and fire crews and resources from the Hill City, Argyle and Pringle fire departments.
Custer city planner Tim Hartmann was also on scene to give firefighters access to the building  and provide a plan showing the layout of the building.
Once the smoke had been vented from the building fire crews began being released at about 9 p.m.

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