Jasper school playground has fire

Published 4:00 am Wednesday, July 8, 2026

Shortly before noon on July 4th, a tall, black plume of smoke was seen rising from the playground equipment at the Jasper school.

According to Pam Emerson, Jasper fire chief, several firefighters responded, arriving in two vehicles, and suppressed the fire. There was a lot of black smoke as it was on the playground. There were no injuries and the source of ignition was undetermined at the time.

Prior to the firefighters arriving, someone was seen trying to rake some of the rubber mulch playground surface out of the path of fire, but the blaze proved to be too intense for much progress.

Once the engines arrived on scene, one firefighter quickly scaled the fence facing Clark Street and used the hose to begin extinguishing the fire.

While doing that, the other engine, this one with a “water cannon”, was revving up, and quickly started spraying a considerable amount of water over the growing fire.

With both firefighters and water sources attacking the fire, it was quickly extinguished… though they continued to soak all the equipment and ground until they were confident there was no chance of it restarting.

Fortunately there was no wind, so the extremely black smoke rose straight into the air. It also slowed the spread of the fire.

The cameras on the school facing the playground will likely facilitate the discovery of what initiated the blaze.

Another stroke of luck is that it happened during the summer, so it isn’t immediately impacting student recreation.