Officials investigate small fire at Vancouver school

Police are investigating a fire that destroyed a trash can at a Vancouver middle school.

The remnants of the fire were discovered early Monday morning, and police were dispatched to McLoughlin Middle School, 5802 MacArthur Blvd., at about 6:30 a.m.

Surveillance video from the school showed seven teens in the area at the time of the fire, with one of them approaching the trash can before the group fled, said Chad Lawry, lead deputy fire marshal with the Vancouver Fire Department.

Fire investigators turned the case over to a Vancouver police resource officer, who is working with the agency’s arson investigation team.

The incident resulted in minor damage, but fire officials said it could have been worse.

“Fortunately, it was (a) small fire load in an outdoor breezeway area with no real combustible exposures,” Lawry said. “Had it been a larger fire load, it could have spread to the roof overhead and been a much larger incident.”