Student arrested in fire at Roosevelt school

ROOSEVELT — A girl has been booked into the Split Mountain Youth Detention Center after police say she started a fire Monday inside a bathroom at school.

The fire alarm sounded about 1:25 p.m. at Roosevelt Junior High School, forcing the school's faculty and 800 students to evacuate. 

Investigators say a female student set the fire inside the girls bathroom, but declined to say what she used to start the blaze.

Flames and smoke were spreading "up the wall and advancing to the ceiling," when they were discovered by Roosevelt Junior High Principal Dean Wilson after the fire alarm sounded, according to Assistant Roosevelt Police Chief Ben Lemmon.

Wilson was able to put the fire out, preventing further damage to the school or injury to students or staff, Lemmon said. The flames were extinguished by the time police officers and firefighters arrived.

Officers used the school's video surveillance system to identify the student who they say started the fire. The case will be referred to the Duchesne County Attorney's Office.

— Geoff Liesik

Twitter: GeoffLiesik