A dumpster fire last week at the River Islands Technology Academy destroyed most of the school’s loose playground equipment just before the start of school.

And while putting out the fire came first, the Lathrop Manteca Fire District wasn’t about to let kids go back to school without anything to play with at recess.

The Lathrop Manteca Firefighters Association and the administrative staff at Lathrop Manteca Fire collaborated with Target to purchase a whole host of new outdoor sports equipment so that the first day back on campus was not one of shock and disappointment – but normalcy.

“The first day of school is an exciting time for kids, and especially after last year’s COVID precautions the kids haven’t really had a normal school year in a while,” Lathrop Manteca Battalion Chief Larry Madoski said. “To know that kids were going back to school and there weren’t going to be a football to throw around or a Hula Hoop to play with – that just wasn’t an option for our firefighters.

“It was a joint team effort between our firefighter’s union, the admin team, and Target – all stepping in to make sure that these kids had a great first day.”

According to Madoksi, the structure that houses the dumpsters at the facility was completely destroyed. The fire did some significant damage to some outbuildings – one of which contained the school’s loose playground equipment.

No classrooms or other essential school facilities were damaged as a result of the fire, the cause of which is currently under investigation.

Madoski said that Lyn Hale of Hale Construction stepped in and helped clean up the scene before school started so that when kids arrived on campus there wasn’t any indication that there was a fire.

Anyone with any information about the blaze, or that may have seen anything leading up to the fire, is encouraged to contact the Lathrop Manteca Fire District at 209.941.5110.  

To contact reporter Jason Campbell email jcampbell@mantecabulletin.com or call 209.249.3544.