A Bedford High School student who allegedly set fire to a bathroom is being charged with arson, a Class A felony.

Since he is under the age of 17, the student faces time in a juvenile detention facility if he is convicted, said Bedford police Detective Matt Fleming.

The fire sent the student’s classmates out of the building and triggered a response from emergency responders who said it was the first incident of its kind at the new school.

No one was injured in the Nov. 19 fire and damage is estimated at less than $1,000, according to police.

After his arrest, the student was released into the custody of his mother, pending his arraignment in the juvenile court.

Because of his age, authorities are not releasing his name.

Superintendent Tim Mayes said the teenager will not be allowed back into school until the school district does its own investigation. The disciplinary process could end in expulsion. “There’s a process we got to go through and there’s unique circumstances always involved in every situation,” Mayes said. “A student who were to commit arson most likely would face expulsion.”

The incident came after a spate of four to five other, smaller fires in Bedford High School bathrooms in the last couple of weeks, said Mayes, and school authorities do not know if the student arrested is responsible for the other fires.

The fire occurred midday.

A teacher called the main office to tell Principal George Edwards there was a fire in the third-floor bathroom. Edwards said he could not see flames or smoke until he went inside the bathroom.

“It was a small fire,” Edwards said. “It was a little bit of smoke. It wasn’t flames pouring out of the bathroom or anything like that.”

Edwards called the Fire Department at 12:42 p.m., before the fire alarm had actually sounded. By the time firefighters arrived, school staff had put out the flames with an extinguisher. About 940 students had to be evacuated from the building. They stood outside in the cold for five to 10 minutes until fire officials let them go into the gym. They were allowed to return to their lunches or classes at 1:30 p.m.

Lurgio Middle School, which is attached to the high school, did not have to be evacuated, said Edwards.

“The building is kind of separated into three portions that are all independent of each other,” he said.

Besides the middle and high school sections, the third contains the cafeteria, gym, theater and library.

“That’s why we were able to populate the students into the gym because that part of the building was not involved at all,” Edwards said.

The interruption came during the third block of the day, in which there are four half-hour lunches. Outside of their assigned lunch time, students have an 85-minute class. Once they returned to the main part of the high school building, students were able to finish the last five minutes of the third lunch.

Fleming said the department is still investigating the fire but he indicated that further arrests are unlikely.

“Any time we have a case of this nature and severity, it’s an open investigation,” Fleming said. “Our investigation never ends at the arrest. It always continues to make sure we gather all the information that we need.” But, “We feel confident that the incident has been addressed and that we have the appropriate person in custody,” Fleming added.

Fleming would not comment on the motive for the fire. In a press release, police alleged that the student set it intentionally, releasing no other details on how it was started.

Mayes said the school district will conduct its own separate investigation.

“The police have their process and we have our process,” Mayes said. “The two are parallel.”