Boy Questioned in Fountain Valley Middle School Fire

FOUNTAIN VALLEY —  A fire of suspicious origin caused $350,000 in damage to a middle school, gutting two classrooms and part of a boys’ locker room, authorities said.

The fire broke out about 8:30 p.m. Friday at Kasuo Masuda School in the 14700 block of Los Jardines.

Investigators said they questioned a boy Saturday but released him. The boy, a former student of the school and nearby resident, was not charged, Battalion Chief Ron Satterfield said.

“In cases like this we’re always on the lookout for suspicious-looking people because, many times, they hang around to see what happens,” Satterfield said.

Firefighters arrived to find the blaze had burned through a two-layer roof and went to work dousing “small pockets of fire,” Satterfield said. “We had to cut through a metal sub-roof to get to them. That was the only way.”

The blaze started at several spots, Satterfield said, indicating a strong possibility that it was deliberately set. The fire was brought under control in about 40 minutes.

Smoke and water damaged a portion of a library, he said.

On Saturday, school officials contacted a company to salvage as much material as possible and clean up the building, Satterfield said. The portion charred by the fire did not have sprinklers.