An alarm sounded Saturday morning signaling a fire at Pioneer Elementary in Olympia.
When firefighters arrived, they discovered a hay bale left over from a school carnival had been set on fire and burned through a wall into a gym storage area.
Monday a fan was still running to try and remove the smoke smell and the principal Randy Weeks was checking to make sure there wasn't anything else outside the school that could be easily torched.
That’s what we are doing, making sure we keep everybody safe," said Weeks.
Concern is heightened because when firefighters were responding to Pioneer Elementary on Saturday another fire was set a few blocks away at the independent Nova school.
The fire at Nova was discovered by teacher Dominic Kehoe, who had come in to prepare for class on Monday.
“I walked in the door and immediately smelled smoke," said Kehoe.
Kehoe discovered the fire had been set inside a trash can pushed up against the outside of the school building. The heat blew out a window and sent smoke into the school.
“I think it was probably opportunistic, and just a shame it happened here."
Parents spoke with KIRO-7 on Monday as their children returned from winter break.
Parent Chris Tilton believes whoever set the fire is likely a young person in need of some help.
“I don't know if it's attention, care, nurturing, who knows,” said Tilton.
Olympia police said whatever the motive, the fires are very dangerous. Detectives are hoping to hear from anyone who may have noticed anything suspicious near the schools Saturday morning. Right now they have few leads to pursue, said police spokeswoman Laura Wohl.
”At this point we have no suspects,” she said.
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