The Anchorage School District says a plastic slide melted and other playground equipment burned when a fire ignited Saturday morning at Alpenglow Elementary School in Eagle River.
Around 8:40 a.m., the Anchorage Fire Department got a report from police about a suspicious fire at 19201 Driftwood Bay Drive. There, firefighters found part of the elementary school's playground engulfed in flames. They quickly extinguished the fire, said a statement from John See, AFD spokesperson.
Heidi Embley, School District spokesperson, said school officials have not yet estimated the cost of the damage done to the playground equipment.
Photos from the School District showed blackened equipment and a melted slide. Embley said about a third of the structure was damaged. The School District blocked off the area and will do more cleanup and removal Monday, she said.
"The downside is that we're getting far enough into the year that if it does need to be replaced, it's likely the replacement equipment won't arrive (until) it's too late to put it into the ground and we'd have to wait until spring," she said.
Another Anchorage School District playground burned earlier this year. In late May, a fire caused tens of thousands of dollars in damage to playground equipment at Taku Elementary School in Anchorage.
Over the summer, the School District does run a camper host program, allowing RVs to park at school facilities for free. In exchange, the campers essentially serve as summer stewards of the schools, providing a presence and keeping an eye out for anything suspicious.
Embley said there was not a camper host at Alpenglow Elementary Saturday.