A juvenile faces a felony charge for starting a fire at Pella Middle School last week.

According to Pella Police, on May 13th at approximately 9:30 a.m. the department received a call from Pella Middle School staff about trouble with a student.

A school staff member smelled smoke and found a fire started in a restroom trash can. It was extinguished by that employee before police arrived. Through an investigation, officers determined the identity of a female student who had started the fire.

Pella Superintendent Greg Ebeling tells KNIA/KRLS News all staff followed the proper process and the incident was resolved quickly.

“Interestingly enough our smoke detectors didn’t even go off in the building so it was a very preliminary fire, but it did melt part of the trash can,” Ebeling says. “We take it very seriously with any of those types of safety things.

“We always have safety protocols in place that if we felt like there was any danger to any of the other student, we would remove them from the building, but actually it was caught real preliminarily before we got to that point.”

The girl was charged with 1st Degree Arson and operating a vehicle without owner’s consent. She was taken to a juvenile facility earlier this week.