A big piece of Miami County history was damaged by a fire Friday. The Old Vickers School House at 319th Street and Victory Road, southeast of Paola, caught fire last Friday morning just before 10:33. Paola Fire Chief, Andy Martin, says smoke was coming from the building when crews arrived, but no visible signs of fire; however, after inspecting the balloon frame, found the fire source. Martin says that type of structure made it difficult to control the fire because there are no fire blocks and the flames were funneled to the attic. At times they thought they had the fire extinguished, but Martin says a fan was used to see where flames would shoot out, then they would shift their focus to that area. Firefighters spent several hours battling the fire and didn’t clear the scene until after 2:00 that afternoon.
It appears the fire may have been started by a lightning strike and started in the kitchen, ear the floor, then went into the walls and up toward the bell tower. The building, which recently was renovated and turned into an Airbnb lodging rental, was unoccupied at the time and there were no injuries reported.
The schoolhouse is more than 150 years old and served its school district from 1869 to the 1960’s.
