Canby Police and the Canby Fire District are investigating a small fire that was deliberately set outside a rear exit door at Eccles Elementary School late Sunday afternoon.
CFD responded to the reported fire at the school on Northwest 5th Avenue at approximately 4:53 p.m.
The fire was set at a rear door near the playground. According to a district representative who met a Current reporter at the door, the suspect or suspects appeared to have tied some sort of fabric around the handle and lit it on fire.
Small, charred pieces of fabric could still be seen. The exterior of the steel door was badly burned but still in working order. No injuries and no other damage were reported.
“We were lucky,” the district staff member, Doug Rykken, said at the scene. “This could have been a lot worse.”
The Canby Police Department also responded to the incident and are investigating, as is Canby Fire.
Canby Police Lieutenant Jose Gonzalez told the Current Monday that investigators are treating the case as deliberate arson. No suspect or suspects have yet been identified, but detectives are pursuing several leads.
