Virginia teacher disputes claim python started school fire

A Virginia science teacher is pushing back after fire officials said her 8-foot python helped start a blaze at Forest Middle School, arguing the snake escaped its enclosure only after the classroom was already burning.

The fire broke out shortly after midnight on Aug. 13 at the Bedford County school, where alarms and sprinklers activated. Firefighters arriving at the scene found smoke in the windows, water flowing down and flames in a second-floor classroom, the Forest Fire Department said. Inside, crews encountered the python, named Nanner, under a desk and secured it in a temporary holding area while they worked to put out the fire.

“We were met with smoke — and the snake,” firefighter-emergency medical technician Ryan Owen told Virginia news outlet WZBJ.

Officials said several classrooms were damaged by fire or water. NBC News, citing WDBJ, reported that eight classrooms sustained water damage and that a tortoise was killed in the fire. School officials said the first day of classes would proceed as scheduled, The Guardian reported.

Bedford County Chief Fire Marshal Steven Whipple told WZBJ that investigators believed Nanner knocked over a heat fixture, contributing to the blaze. “The snake contributed to starting the fire,” Whipple said. “However, I don’t think there was any maliciousness involved on the snake’s side.”

Brittany Jacobs, who identified herself as the life science teacher who kept Nanner and other animals in the classroom, disputed that account in a lengthy Facebook post. She said the fire was an accident and “not [my], or anyone else’s, fault.”

“I am devastated for many reasons right now — all of my teaching tools are now gone, many children will now not have the opportunities that many others have had, 18 years of teaching material is gone,” Jacobs wrote. “I never wanted this for my school, my admin, or my county.”

Jacobs said all light fixtures in her classroom had been secured, including the heat fixture near the tortoise that died. She wrote that the fixture had been clamped to the side of the enclosure, positioned high above the bedding and in the same place for three years. From her assessment after the fire, she said, there was no evidence it had been knocked over.

According to Jacobs, the fire was visible through the classroom door’s glass for 20 minutes before hallway surveillance video showed Nanner leaving the room. She said the python apparently forced her way out because of the heat, bending metal locks on the enclosure screen.

“She left the room because it was so hot in there,” Jacobs wrote. “So hot that it melted the tank next to hers.”

Jacobs also said Nanner’s face had “perfect circles of soot” matching the holes in her enclosure screen, which she said indicated the snake was inside the enclosure when the fire began. After cleaning soot from the python, Jacobs wrote, she found bruising on Nanner’s nose from pushing against the screen.

Jacobs said she has taught for 18 years and has long kept classroom animals, including snakes, frogs, turtles, tortoises and hatched chicks, as educational tools. She wrote that she once studied to become a veterinarian specializing in reptiles and said she had never before had an animal escape or a heat emitter cause fire damage.

“I am a firm believer that ALL animals change lives,” Jacobs wrote. “Some teachers are into drones, some are into legos some are into computer technology … animals are my thing.”

She said she has since removed Nanner and all other animals from the school.