Teacher had brought own heater to Tokyo elementary school before fire

TOKYO - The head of a Tokyo public elementary school that was severely damaged in a fire last month said Thursday that a teacher had placed her own electric heater and air circulator in the storage room where the fire is thought to have originated.

The teacher had routinely dried items there after using the washing machine in the home economics room, and was drying articles of her own clothing at the time of the fire, Principal Masahiro Takakusaki said.