One day into spring break, an electrical fire erupted Saturday morning at Ferrucci Junior High in Puyallup.
It’s unclear whether students can return after the break.
No one was believed to be inside the school at the time of the fire, according to Central Pierce Fire & Rescue.
Sarah Gillispie, a spokesperson for the Puyallup School District, said an inverter that provides backup power during an outage caught fire around 7 a.m. Saturday.
The fire sent out gas and plumes of smoke into the school’s new wing of 11 classrooms, which were added in 2022, she said. Sprinklers rained water throughout the school, causing water damage in two classrooms.
The fire is the first major electrical issue at the school, she said.
“We haven’t had any previous issues with (the building inverter) until now,” Gillispie said. “We are thankful that no students or staff were in the campus at the time.”
District officials are cautiously optimistic the fire won’t affect students and staff returning to school when spring break ends April 13. However, once it’s safe for district staff to enter the building, they’ll know more, Gillispie said.
The district will work with a mitigation company to address off-gassing concerns associated with batteries, she said. Then a restoration company will repair damage in the building.
“We’re grateful that we have some time in front of us to mitigate the situation,” Gillispie said.
© 2026 The Seattle Times. Visit www.seattletimes.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
