Just after 6:30 Monday evening, a ceramic kiln , an oven used for firing clay, overheated in the art room at Washington Street Elementary School in Hartsville.
According to Hartsville Fire Marshal Brian Crowley, a couple of custodians saw smoke coming from the building and called 911.
Firefighters got to the scene in about one minute and found the kiln had melted some rugs in the art room causing a lot of smoke.
Crowley says they took the rugs out of the building and doused them with water.
He says there was no damage to the building other than a lot of smoke, so they used pressure fans to blow the smoke out of the school.
Crowley says someone left the ceramic kiln on, which can be dangerous because the kilns reach very high temperatures.
He says they're lucky there was relatively no damage to the school at all.
