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GREENSBORO — The number of fires reported at Guilford County Schools has increased in recent years, with more set at Eastern Guilford High than at any other school, according to the district.

Fire officials attribute much of the increase to school officials being more likely to report fires than in the past.

Still, the numbers are cause for concern.

“I think if you look at the numbers, there are enough incidents to say we have an issue with fires,” said Alan Perdue, director of Guilford County emergency services.
In particular, officials are alarmed that fires continue to pop up at Eastern High. An unsolved arson destroyed that school in 2006.

There have been five intentionally set fires reported at Eastern since the start of the 2007-08 school year, according to the school district. That includes a period from 2007 to 2009, when the school operated out of mobile classroom units.

Across the district, there were seven intentional fires reported during the 2007-08 school year and four the following year. But there have been 11 so far this school year, officials said.

Of those, three involved the burning of school property.

The number of campus fires recorded by fire officials appears to be even higher than the number reported by the school district.

The Greensboro Fire Department alone reports responding to 20 intentionally set fires at schools during 2009.

Anthony Scales, the school district’s school safety director, didn’t know what caused the discrepancies in numbers, but he said fire officials could be including fires the state does not require school districts to report.

Most fires are not set maliciously, Scales and Perdue said. Many are caused by students discarding still-smoldering cigarettes or kids playing with fire.
Students don’t realize how quickly and easily a small fire can become a big problem, Scales said.

A student set a fire at High Point Central earlier this year that Scales said was nearly a dangerous situation.

“With a fire, it’s just hard to say that with a minor incident you never know when it will become a major incident,” he said.

Scales said principals are making students aware of the dangers and punishments associated with setting fires at school, but it’s still hard to curb the behavior.

Students are getting caught and charged for the fires but despite that, and despite the presence of video cameras in many schools, students continue to cause fires. 
“I can only guess they do it to disrupt the school day, to get the day off,” Scales said.

Perdue started meeting with principals and other school district officials about two years ago to push them to report all fires at schools.

He said that small fires that were dealt with without calling the fire department were going unreported.
Perdue said the school district needs to hear out the concerns of fire officials.

“In some areas there’s certainly some work that needs to be done,” he said.

Contact J. Brian Ewing at 373-7351 or brian.ewing@news-record.com