Faribault Lutheran School Playground Fire Solved Quickly

Faribault Police and Fire Departments were dispatched to Faribault Lutheran School on a possible pallet fire.

Dienst says, "When police arrived they radioed the playground was on fire.  There's a rubber substrate down so that was burning and we had a pretty decent south wind.  The fire was started in the middle of the playground and went to the north due to the wind.  On it's way across there it burned up a lot of plastic parts of the playground so a lot of the playground equipment is destroyed."

The fire was out in a few minutes and then the investigation took place.  Dienst said they knew it didn't start on it's own, "There were a some witnesses so the police department did a quick job of getting statements from the witnesses that were around and we already know who did it.  We got a confession from this person."

The Fire Chief told us to get that information from Faribault Police.  We do have a call into Chief Bohlen.  Dienst did say the person is not an adult.

Dienst added, "Plastic and rubber is what was burning so it was very visible, very black smoke went up into the sky.  A lot of people saw it.  It only took a couple of firefighters and a little bit of water to put it out.  It was only burning on the top of the rubber substrate so it was pretty easily extinguished.  It wasn't a big fire."

The playground equipment is pretty new according to parishioners who stated it had been installed about a year ago.

The school is next to the historic Trinity Lutheran Church on 4th Street.