Student’s firestarter sets off uproar at Cascade High

School interruption

By DAVID MELSON dmelson@t-g.com

Posted 4/25/22

Cascade High School was briefly evacuated Monday morning after a student brought a firestarter used for camping to the school, officials said.

“A young man on a bus had magnesium,” …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Attention subscribers

To continue reading, you will need to either log in to your subscriber account, or purchase a new subscription.

If you are a current print subscriber, you can set up a free website account and connect your subscription to it by clicking here.

Otherwise, click here to view your options for subscribing.

Student’s firestarter sets off uproar at Cascade High

School interruption

T-G Photo by Dawn Hankins

Posted Monday, April 25, 2022 10:40 am

By DAVID MELSON dmelson@t-g.com

Cascade High School was briefly evacuated Monday morning after a student brought a firestarter used for camping to the school, officials said.

“A young man on a bus had magnesium,” Sheriff Austin Swing said. “He showed it to the kids and said ‘We can start fires with this.’ He never made a threat.’

One of the students notified school administrators on arrival. At that point the school was evacuated while students and the premises were searched.

There was some confusion while the school’s staff and Bedford County deputies determined exactly what the student possessed.

“Some said he had a container,” Chief Deputy Nikia Elliott said. Eventually deputies found there was no “container,” just the firestarter with a thin strip of magnesium described by Elliott as “a little bar.”

“It was a firestarter like you’d use to go camping,” Elliott said.

The only questionable object found was on the student with the firestarter, Swing said.

“Everything is good,” Swing said after students returned to class around 9:30 a.m.

No charges are being filed since no actual threat was made, Swing said. Any discipline will be handled by school administrators. Elliott said.

“This got blown a little out of proportion,” Elliott said. “But he shouldn’t have brought it to school.”