UPDATED: Lake Country high school fire deemed accidental

A fire has damaged the roof and a couple of rooms at George Elliot Secondary in Lake Country.

The Lake Country Fire Department responded last night, Aug. 17 at roughly 5:30 p.m. and firefighters were on site until about 10:45 p.m.

"There's nothing that looks suspicious on it," said deputy fire chief Brent Penner.

The fire was deemed accidental. Renovations were being conducted on the building's roof and the fire started under a seam of the new roofing material that was being installed. It worked its way through the seam, decking and into the common space which had a lot of air, he said.

There is water and smoke damage to the old change rooms in the back of the school.

"It was limited into that void space in that structure but we had to destroy the roof to get at it and we had to remove a lot of the ceilings to get at it as well. So those two rooms have a lot of damage but the rest of the school is OK," Penner said.

The fire was limited to the roof and exterior wall of the auxiliary gymnasium outside the girl’s change room, according to a press release from Central Okanagan Public Schools.

The school district expects it will not affect the return to school in September.

– This story was updated Aug. 18, 2022 to provide the cause of the fire.

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