An electrical fire broke out at Crown Point Elementary School on Thursday morning, forcing an emergency evacuation that sent the roughly 800 PreK through 5th-grade students to nearby Mandarin Middle School while crews worked to secure the Jacksonville campus. Roads leading to the school at 3800 Crown Point Road were closed to traffic and buses as firefighters responded, and the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office was also on the scene.
Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department crews brought the fire under control shortly after arriving, determining during preliminary inspections that it was a small electrical fire, according to News4JAX. Students and buses were diverted to Mandarin Middle School, located roughly 1.8 miles south of Crown Point's campus on Hood Road, close enough that the district could reroute buses without major delays. Action News Jax first reported the evacuation Thursday morning.
A Campus Built to Hold Nearly 1,200 Students
Mandarin Middle School serves an enrolled student body of approximately 1,120 to 1,180 students in grades 6 through 8, per the same source that mapped the distance between the two campuses. That size made it a logical landing spot for the displaced elementary students while fire officials worked through the smaller campus. Crown Point Elementary, led by Principal Brett Hartley since June 2016, operates as a Title I public school within Duval County, meaning a significant share of its student body qualifies for federal assistance programs.
The evacuation came during just the second week of classes for the 2026–2027 school year, which officially began for Duval County Public Schools students on August 10. Florida law requires school districts to establish emergency response policies and conduct regular evacuation drills, a mandate laid out under Florida Statute Section 1006.07, and that groundwork likely helped the campus move students out quickly and safely.
Recent Upgrades and a Familiar Scenario in Mandarin
Crown Point Elementary underwent infrastructure and safety hardening projects in July 2023 as part of Duval County Public Schools' voter-approved 15-year half-cent sales tax master facility plan, an initiative Jacksonville voters approved in 2020 to address deferred maintenance and building modernization across the district. The district is also in the midst of installing walk-through OPENGATE weapons detection systems at select elementary campuses this school year, targeting roughly 30 sites annually as part of a broader security expansion effort.
Thursday's fire was not the first time a utility-related incident has emptied a school building in the Mandarin area. In August 2022, nearby Loretto Elementary School was evacuated when a propane gas leak behind the building prompted a response and safety sweep by Jacksonville Fire and Rescue.
It remains unclear exactly which electrical component failed at Crown Point or whether the building sustained any smoke or structural damage. Fire officials had not yet said when students and staff would be cleared to return to the Crown Point campus.
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