Official: Janitor put out locker fire in Manhasset HS

Students at Manhasset High School were evacuated to the auditorium after a janitor extinguished a small fire inside a gym locker Wednesday morning, fire officials said.

The fire was inside a locker near the gym, said deputy chief Kyle Dugger of the Manhasset-Lakeville Fire Department. A high school official who did not want to give her name said it was the boys locker room.

The fire was reported shortly after 9 a.m., and it was unclear what caused it. The janitor who discovered the fire extinguished the flames with water before the fire department arrived, said Mike Uttaro, chief of department for the Manhasset-Lakeville Fire Department.

He was taken to North Shore University Hospital in Manhasset as a precautionary measure for smoke inhalation, Uttaro said.

The Nassau County fire marshal is investigating, he said.

"A fire in a locker is definitely suspicious," Uttaro said.

Dugger said the fire was minimal and contained to the locker.

Evacuated students were sent to the auditorium by 10 a.m. and were to stay there until further notice, the school official said.