Most classes at Elm Street Elementary School in Summerside, P.E.I., will resume on Tuesday after a small fire forced the cancellation of all classes on Monday. The fire started near a ventilation fan in the computer server room at about 4:30 p.m. local time Sunday.
Summerside fire Chief Jim Peters said the sprinkler system had put out the fire by the time firefighters arrived. “It was just a matter of us, the firefighters, shutting down the sprinkler system and clearing some smoke,” said Peters.
Shutting down the sprinklers, however, took about 30 minutes, said English Language School Board superintendent Cynthia Fleet. The water soaked through the floor and ran into classrooms below, including the kindergarten.
Because of the water damage, kindergarten will be cancelled again Tuesday. All other classes will go ahead Tuesday as usual. Kindergarten classes will resume Wednesday, with changes for one classroom.
“Tomorrow, we will have teachers with workers from the school board move furniture and materials back into two classrooms, and a third classroom will be relocated into the breakfast area,” Fleet said.
“So that is why the breakfast program will not be in operation for the remainder of the week.”
Communications at the school will be by telephone only until the computer system is restored.
Stubbs Elementary School in Wilmington was evacuated after a small fire Monday morning, but the site will reopen Tuesday. Principal Jeffers Brown “will be notifying parents and staff of this decision,” Christina School District Public Information Officer Wendy Lapham said.
City fire crews were dispatched at 8:10 a.m. after sprinklers set off an automatic alarm, according to Battalion Chief James R. Jobes, the department’s public information officer. Firefighters found medium-heavy smoke on the second floor with water in the hallway, Jobes said. Crews that began searching the second floor with fire hoses found an activated sprinkler in one room, with the fire already out, he said.
Nearly 330 students in pre-kindergarten through fifth grade were relocated from their school in the 1100 block of N. Pine St. to the nearby Howard High School of Technology in the 400 block of E. 12th St., Lapham said.
“Being right across the street, it worked out perfect,” she said.
Since school doesn’t start until 9 a.m, only teachers and other staff members were in the building, Lapham said.
Arriving buses were directed to the high school, she said, and students who walk were escorted there.
Water from the sprinkler reached adjoining rooms and leaked through the floor to classrooms below, he said.
The cause of the fire remains under investigation by the Wilmington Fire Marshal’s Office.
Parents and concerned citizens may call the school at (302) 429-4175 for more information.
There was no immediate estimate of damage to the elementary school, built in 1953 and named for city native Dr. Frederick Douglass Stubbs, one of the country’s top thoracic surgeons.
Incense that was lit and unattended was found to be the cause of a closet fire that occurred at about 7:15 p.m. on the fifth floor, room 5G, in Stevenson Hall Thursday. The Charleston Fire Department responded to the fire at 7:31 p.m.
Mark Hudson, the director of university Housing and Dining, said the heat from the fire, which damaged a corner of the closet, activated the sprinkler system and “quickly” doused the flames. Having candles, incense and any other open flames goes against housing policy, Hudson said.
“There is minor damage to the room from the fire, but the water sprinklers going on caused additional issues in the building,” said Hudson.
Hudson said other suites got wet from the system but were cleaned by the building service workers, and electricians came to replace smoke detectors in the room with fire damage and others affected by water. Those who lived in the room affected by the fire were all moved to a different suite within the building.
Hudson said the student who caused the fire came forward, but he was not able to release the student’s name yet because of everything still being a part of the overall investigation.
The student responsible for the fire will face disciplinary action from the university. “It’s a very serious situation because it’s safety violation; they went against the rules of the building in terms of its fire safety,” Hudson said.
Hudson said the damage cost of the fire and water was uncertain, but the building is fully open to students except for the room where the fire occurred.
Students that were evacuated from the building were not allowed to enter until 10:45 p.m. and those who were eating during the time of the fire were given meal credit, said Hudson.
A chemical fire erupted in a Western Washington University chemistry building on Tuesday afternoon, Aug. 25. No one was injured, and the building was evacuated right after the fire broke out about 5:15 p.m., said WWU spokesman Paul Cocke.
Student Melany Fry was in room 370 of Morse Hall with six other students when the fire broke out. “We heard a big bang and a whoosh,” Fry said.
Fry said the fire started by a dry-solvent pump, which keeps water out of solvents. She didn’t think anybody was working with that pump at the time.
The flames were initially about 15 feet high, Fry said. All of the students got out quickly while somebody else tried putting the fire out with an extinguisher.
Firefighters responded and saw a plume coming from the building. They set up a perimeter far from the building to keep everyone away as they tried to determine what chemicals were involved.
The building’s sprinklers put out the fire. Firefighters broke out windows to ventilate the building, and conducted a search for anyone who might still be inside, though the building had been cleared. They later ordered an evacuation of the nearby biology building.
A hazardous materials team was brought in to examine the lab and ensure the scene was safe.
Jared Chang, another WWU student who was in the building at the time, described the chemicals the students were working with as “a bunch of nasty, organic solvents that you don’t want on fire.”
What caused the fire was under investigation Tuesday evening. No immediate damage estimate was available.
Reporting on lives and property saved by fire sprinklers
