Faulty sprinkler head leads to first day evacuation of school
Photo Credit: Andrew Higgins
The Metro-West Fire Department arrives at Lafayette on Aug. 17 in response to an all-school evacuation due to a problem in the sprinkler system.
Chelsea Coleman, Editor-in-Chief
August 18, 2010
Filed under News, Top Stories
The first day of school was interrupted today when fire alarms sounded just after noon.
“During the construction process, a sprinkler head was broken in the girls locker room and possibly started leaking into the Driver Education room,” Assistant Principal Matt Dieckhaus said.
He continued, “[The administration] had to evacuate [the building] because by law [the building] needs to have a working sprinkler system at all times.”
The broken sprinkler head flooded the girls locker but possibly could have continued to flood the basement classrooms, according to Dieckhaus.
However, Driver Education teacher Justin Bottoroff said that there were no visible signs of leaking while he was teaching in the basement classroom.
“I didn’t see a thing [wrong] in the basement.” Bottoroff said.
To allow the students back into the building, the Metro West Fire Marshal Steve Sagehorn had to inspect the building’s safety making sure that the electricity and sprinkler system was working properly.
During the evacuation, Dieckhaus said, “The Fire Marshal will let [the administration] know if we can re-enter the building or only certain part of the building or possibly not re-enter at all.”
Sagehorn explained the incident further. He said, “It was probably caused by construction, I mean who knows what’s going on down there.”
But after his inspection Sagehorn deemed the building safe and students and staff entered the building just after 12:55 p.m.
“[The building] is safe . . . The downstairs is off limits until the sprinkler system and electric for the safety of the students and teachers,” Sagehorn said
The remaining Driver Education classes were moved into the Library for the rest of the afternoon while the custodial staff cleaned up the locker room and other flooded areas.
Loading ...