A fire broke out Wednesday, September5, at the Head Start building on Chamber Drive.

Although children were in class at the time, everyone was evacuated safely.

According to one report, the fire began when a delivery truck from AC Trucking backed into a low hanging power line which caused the electrical power in the building to be energized.

The driver did tell the teachers  of the problem, completed unloading the truck and then left the area.

No injuries were reported. Classes at the building on South Chamber Drive were moved to the Fredericktown United Methodist Church beginning on Tuesday, September 11 according to Head Start officials in Park Hills. 

Fredericktown Electric Department employees were repairing the damage on Monday afternoon. Classes will resume on Chamber Dr. when repairs are completed.

The Fredericktown Head Start Staff issued a statement, saying: “We would like the residents of Fredericktown to know how helpful the community people were on Wednesday, September 5, during our unexpected mishap.

The staff sent a letter of appreciation which included “the Fredericktown Fire Department, Don Wasson and th City Utilities crew, the Police Department, Al Kopitsky, Tim Dane and Bill Osborne, and anyone that we forgot to mention for their help during our unfortunate accident that could have ended in disaster.”

Head Start also expressed its appreciation to the “Rev. Rick Lasley and the Methodist Church congregation for providing a building to have school until our building is repaired.’’

According to the government website: “The Head Start program provides grants to local public and private non-profit and for-profit agencies to provide comprehensive child development services to economically disadvantaged children and families, with a special focus on helping preschoolers develop the early reading and math skills they need to be successful in school.

Head Start is a national program that promotes school readiness by enhancing the social and cognitive development of children through the provision of educational, health, nutritional, social and other services to enrolled children and families.”

http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/hsb/about/index.html#prog_desc