A fire alarm was reported shortly before 9 a.m. Saturday at the Des Moines Area Community College Perry VanKirk Career Academy in Perry.
Officers of the Perry Police Department, Perry Volunteer Fire Department and Dallas County EMS responded to the alarm and waited about one hour for the arrival of a key holder for the facility.
“We eventually got in the building,” said Perry Volunteer Fire Department Chief Chris Hinds. “What we found out is that they update their key cards quarterly, but they have never since they day they moved in that building updated the fire department’s key card, so that’s why we couldn’t get in initially.”
There was no actual fire in the school, Hinds said. He said heat from a faulty air compressor set off the alarm.
“An airline had broken in their utility room,” Hinds said, “causing the air compressor to run continuously, and the heat generated by the air compressor running continuously eventually set off the heat alarm in that room. As soon as we were able to get in there and saw what the problem was, we shut off the air compressor off and opened the doors and when things cooled down, we reset the alarm and away we went.”
The day ended for local public safety agencies with the report of a stove fire in an apartment unit at 2902 Iowa St. shortly before midnight.
Officers of the Perry Police Department, Perry Volunteer Fire Department, Perry First Responders and Dallas County EMS responded to the incident.
According to authorities, the woman who reported the incident extinguished the blaze before calling 911 and was primarily concerned with having her children examined for possible harm from smoke inhalation.
ThePerryNews.com will update this story as information becomes available.
