Police: Fifth-Graders Involved in School Fire

West Orange police reported two fifth graders at Pleasantdale Elementary School were taken into custody following a bathroom fire on Feb. 21.

According to the report, the boys, whose names were not released because of their ages, were transported to headquarters by the juvenile aid bureau following the incident.

The fire, in the first-floor boys' restroom of the elementary school on Pleasant Valley Way, started about 1:40 p.m., West Orange Fire Capt. Robert Dsurney said.

It is believed the fire started when paper towels inside a 50-gallon garbage can caught fire, police said.

However, since smoke filled the first floor, the school was evacuated for about 20 minutes while firefighters vented the building, Dsurney said.

School janitors extinguished most of the fire with buckets of water and dragged the can outside before the fire department arrived, fire officials said.

It is unknown how the fire started. West Orange police are investigating.