Got a call from my principal around 10:15 tonight.
There was a fire in the auditorium and the Fire Marshall needed some information about the stage lights and how the light board worked.
He tried to get the information from me over the phone, but in the end I ended up having to head down to the school to turn things on so I could answer his questions. I ended up being there for a while, I didn’t get home until a little after midnight.
We figured out that is probably wasn’t a short in the system, and that none of the lights were left on. What we think happened is that a couple of the spot lights that are on light trees on the stage were a little too close to the curtains, and somebody probably accidentally pushed the curtain right onto one of the lights on their way out of the stage. Even though there were off, they had been on and if you’ve ever worked with them you know that they get incredibly hot, and can stay that way for a while.
Fortunately, thanks to the fire-sprinkler system, the damage (to the building) was minimal and we’ll still be having school tomorrow.
The main curtain was ruined, as was one of the black side curtains. The nice hardwood on the wall by the curtain was burned and had to be removed, and a little of the hardwood floor was singed a bit too. The stage and auditorium floor were drenched, according the the Fire Marshall there was 3 feet of water in the orchestra pit area.
The big damage was water damage to the sets. The school production of “The Wizard of Oz” was scheduled to start next week, but since the witches castle and the front doors to the emerald city were destroyed, we’re not sure it’s going to happen.
Anyway, at least the building didn’t burn to the ground and I’m getting real tired so it’s off to bed. Hopefully they’ll have the smoke smell cleared out of the building by morning so I won’t have to deal with that.
G’nite.
5 comments:
Sounds like a lucky escape!
Yeah, good thing for fire sprinkler systems. If it had been an older building without them, it could have been a disaster.
I often do school only only 4 hours of sleep. Seriously.
However, somehow I'd missed most of this news, and I never connected it to you. This is probably because I spent so much time in instacare Thursday night. (Bronchitis)
I'm glad to read your update. Sorry about the set. That'll be hard on the kids. Maybe they'll be able to use another school's stage to put on the show anyway????? That seems possible.
Also glad you are free from blame in all this.
Not me, I try to get a full 8 hours before school.
The kids were kind of bummed, but the show must go on. We're just postponing it for a week or two, depending on how long it takes to fix things. Most of the damage was from the water, very little really burned, so they're thinking the stage can be ready to go in a week to 10 days. If all goes well.
That'll be good. :)
Funny, as old as our building is, we've never had a fire that wasn't set by some kid with a lighter in a bathroom. In other words, no real fire damage ever. (*knocks on wood*)
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