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GREENSBORO — Students set five small fires last month inside three high schools in Guilford County Schools.

Officials aren't sure what set off the rash of fires, which cropped up just as the district faced the first anniversary of a fire that gutted Eastern Guilford High School.

But school, law enforcement and fire officials are warning students that setting fires will result in harsh punishment. Information was sent home to parents at the schools where students intentionally set fires, said Tony Scales, the district's school safety officer.

Three students face felony charges and up to a year suspension from school for starting fires at Eastern Guilford, Southeast Guilford and Page high schools in October. None of the fires, all of which were small and easily extinguished, caused damage or injuries, reports show.

It is unusual to have so many school fires in such a short time span, said Alan Perdue, director of Guilford County Emergency Services.

"To have this many fires is concerning," he said. Especially after what happened to Eastern last year.

The district and the Eastern community are still struggling to recover from that loss.

Students paused Thursday afternoon to mark the anniversary of the fire, which started in a back storage area of an empty second-floor chemistry lab. The fire reduced the 32-year-old school to charred rubble.

For the remainder of the school year, the Eastern student body was divided — attending school at two sites. This academic year, they're studying in temporary buildings, called "pods," on the Eastern Guilford campus.

A new school likely won't be ready until 2009. And how to pay for a new, larger Eastern has caused bitter division among school and county leaders.

"It's real surprising," Scales said of the fires this year. "Really, it just doesn't make sense with all the information that went out ... that these kids will still do stuff like this."

The fire that gutted Eastern last year likely started out in the same way, students and teachers have speculated — as a prank or a way to disrupt school.

"Once you set a fire, there is no one in control," Perdue said. "You can't determine how big it will get, how small it will stay."

There seems to be no connection between the fires, Scales said. He characterized them as "careless, stupid acts."

He said anyone caught setting fires in a school will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

"All fires start as small fires," Scales said. "So we have to take each and every one of them seriously."

Contact Jennifer Fernandez at 373-7064 or jfernandez@news-record.com