By Shawn Hogendorf, Correspondent 

It was a case of being in the right place at the right time for three members of the Burnsville Police Explorers when an air conditioning unit caught fire atop the blue gym at Prior Lake High School last week.

The cause of the fire is still under investigation, and the amount of damage done to the school is still unknown, said Kristi Mussman, communications coordinator for the Prior Lake-Savage Area School District.

“The roof does not need total replacement, just a partial, and we have a temporary repair on it now so we are watertight,” Mussman said. “As far as the AC replacement and use of the space, it depends on the insurance carrier as to when we will be allowed in. Their investigation is still ongoing. Sports and activities can work around the space until we get back in.”Stanika Bradford-Brown, 16, left,
and Brandon Taheri, 18, both of
Burnsville, and Kirsten Schultz, 16,
of Prior Lake, are all members of
the Burnsville Police Explorers
unit. (Photo by Shawn Hogendorf)

The fire started Aug. 21, soon after the conclusion of the first Prior Lake High School home volleyball game of the season against Burnsville High School.

Prior Lake junior Kirsten Schultz, 16, and Brandon Taheri, 18, and Stanika Bradford-Brown, 16, both of Burnsville, were three Burnsville Police Explorers at the high school at the time of the fire. Schultz is a first-year member of the Police Explorers unit and a member of the volleyball team. Taheri and Bradford-Brown were at the high school to watch the match.

The Explorers were walking out to their cars, parked in the first row of the student parking lot, literally feet away from the blue gym, when they heard an “explosion” and saw “a small fire ball” come from the roof. The Explorers said initially it looked like nothing, so they kept walking and talking.

That’s when they heard four more “explosions” and the east side of the roof of the gym was “engulfed in flames,” Taheri said.

“I heard the explosion and looked back at the school and was shocked to see a brand new high school go up in flames,” Taheri said.

Rather than panicking at the sights and sounds coming from the school, the Explorers used the experience they gained from the program to keep them calm. They first called 911 and then “kicked it into gear,” said Taheri, a third-year Explorer.

“I just dropped all my books and ran into the school to make sure everyone was out,” Schultz said.

From there, the Explorers attempted to keep bystanders calm and waited for police and firefighters to arrive.

“We made sure everyone was back off the curb, because we didn’t know what the scenario of the explosion was,” Taheri said. “The last thing we wanted was people to be caught under a roof that collapsed. We just wanted to get everyone out of the area to keep them safe, so when police and firefighters arrived they could do their job.”

When police arrived, the Explorers told the officers who they were and asked if there was anything they could do to assist.

Officers put the three Explorers on traffic control to make sure there was order, as the vehicles left the lot.

“It was nice to have the Explorers around as resources,” said Savage Police Chief Rodney Seurer. “We put them to work right away, because we only had six officers on duty that night. Five of them were on the perimeter of the scene and one was responding to other calls.”

This was the first real emergency Bradford-Brown said she was a part of as a first-year Explorer.

“I just tried to stay calm,” she said.

It helped to have two other Explorers on the scene, because they knew what to do as a result of working on different emergency and safety scenarios during training, Taheri said.

“It was surprising to see how fast both Savage and Prior Lake police and firefighters responded,” Taheri said. “It was great to see how the two police and fire departments worked together. It was impressive.”

As eager as the Explorers were to help, they still remembered their place.

“We were there to help if that is what the emergency workers needed,” Taheri said. “We would’ve gotten out of the way if that’s what they wanted. We didn’t want to be three more people they had to be accountable for if they didn’t need our assistance. Some people don’t know who Explorers are, but the Savage police officers did.”

Schultz said she was just happy to be able to help.

“This is my school,” she said. “I wanted to do anything I could to help.”

The Explorers keep vests and First Aid kits in their cars in case they are on scene during a situation like this, Taheri said.

“It was being in the right place at the right time and being willing to help where we could,” he said.

“By the end, people were thanking us and were grateful we were there to get them out and help out,” Bradford-Brown said.

Schultz, Taheri and Bradford-Brown all said they hope to continue on the law enforcement track when they are out of school.

This may be the last year of the Burnsville Police Explorer program because it won’t receive any funding after Dec. 31, Taheri said. The Explorers will do one last competition before the program closes, unless about $14,000 is raised by Jan. 1, he said.

“The thing is that trust is built through working together as Explorers every week,” Schultz said. “It’s been great to get to know each other well through the training. If they weren’t there, I wouldn’t have been able to do all the things we did that night.”

The Burnsville Police Explorers compete in two competitions a year against 75 other programs in the state, Taheri said. The Explorers train in a variety of emergency and safety scenarios and attitudes of law enforcement. The Explorers are trained and supervised by police officers.

The Explorers complete 20 hours of ride-alongs with officers each year and are required to pass a variety of different code tests to help officers with procedures while they are on the ride-alongs if needed. The Explorers also assist police with National Night Out and other community events in Burnsville and Lakeville throughout the year.

 Shawn Hogendorf can be reached at shogendorf@swpub.com.