Teens took video while starting fire that damaged closed Tacoma school, arson charges say

TACOMA – A large fire that last week tore through Tacoma’s historic Gault Middle School – long closed and long troubled by vandalism – was allegedly started by a 15-year-old boy who had run away from home, according to charging documents.

The boy, his 15-year-old girlfriend and at least three other people under the age of 18 were inside the school when the fire started the morning of Jan. 3. Court documents state that they jumped through a window, and the girlfriend recorded video while the boy lit a fire and piled on flammable materials.

The Tacoma Police Department arrested the girl Wednesday at Henderson High School in Gig Harbor, and her boyfriend and another 15-year-old boy were arrested at the girl’s home with the assistance of Gig Harbor police.

On Thursday, Pierce County prosecutors charged the boy accused of lighting the fire and his girlfriend with first-degree arson and second-degree burglary. Prosecutors have not charged the third person arrested with a crime, and they requested further investigation from police.

The two charged in the fire were to be arraigned Thursday afternoon in a courtroom of Remann Hall, the county’s juvenile detention center. The News Tribune is not naming the defendants because they are not being charged as adults.

Tacoma Fire Department firefighters battled the fire at Gault Middle School all morning and into the afternoon, working through heavy flames and large plumes of smoke.

More than 2,000 people in a 1-mile radius received emergency notifications to avoid the smoke, according to the fire department. By the time the blaze was extinguished, several portions of the roof had collapsed. Crews later used an excavator to knock down a portion of the building’s facade, including the sign that read Franklin B. Gault Intermediate School.

No injuries were reported from the fire. Tacoma Public Schools has a demolition permit for the property.