April Showers Inside High School Cause Damage

April Showers Inside High School Cause Damage

By Lee Revis
Editor, Valdez Star

HIGH SCHOOL - Fire alarms have sent the Valdez Fire Department scurrying around town lately, despite the fact there has been little fire activity around town but plenty of emergencies for such a small town. The latest alarm occurred late Wednesday night of last week when the fire alarm at Valdez High School went off, sending emergency personnel off to the scene. When crews arrived, there was no fire but there was most certainly an alarming emergency. Responders found several inches of water pouring out of Mr. Mackey's second story classroom, sending vast amounts of water not just into the classroom, but down into the ceiling and onto the computers and books in the library on the first floor. "The sprinkler heads went haywire," said VHS Principal Geary Cantrell. "This one just busted loose."

"We tried to stop the water," reported Fire Chief George Keeney. He says the fire crew went into damage control mode immediately to try to stop the water damage, especially in the library below where wet computers and sopping books laid under water and sagging ceiling tiles.

Last week, the fire department responded to a fire alarm at Prince William Sound Community College. They arrived on the scene to also find no fire, but extensive vandalism to the school. Two juveniles have since been arrested for the crime.

In the case of the high school, an aging sprinkler head burst open without warning. According to Dave McCahan, who is in charge of maintenance for Valdez City Schools, old heads normally start to drip and do not burst without warning. He said inspection and replacement of sprinkler heads are an ongoing project throughout the school system. "Its something we work at on going," he told the School Board Monday night. "There was considerable water damage in both places," he said.

Remarkably, the cost estimates of the water damage to both the class room and the library are coming in under $10,000, not including man hours. Several ceiling tiles have to be replaced in the library but almost all of the computers survived the deluge. Only one keyboard and a printer are nonfunctional and have to be replaced.

"I would like to publicly thank Mr. Keeney and his staff," a grateful McCahan told the school board. He credits their damage control efforts for the low dollar damage estimate.

Several new books and many of the back issues of National Geographic were destroyed in the library. "Overall, the key book shelves were away from the water," said Principal Cantrell.