Flood damages dance studio floor

By Fransisco Turrubiates |

At approximately 1:30 p.m. on Tuesday students evacuated the buildings during fifth period, a few seconds after the tardy bell. Teachers were not aware that there was going too be a fire drill but they walked their students to the destinations they have been practicing since the beginning of school.

Water pours out of the ceiling in the hall of Rough Rider.

Water pours out of the ceiling in the hall of Rough Rider.

“When the alarm went off we knew it wasn’t a pre-planned drill,” Assistant Principal Lori Murach said. “Mr. Echard goes to the sensor to find the location of the fire alarm but instead saw there was an indication of a problem with one of the sprinklers.  We immediately went to our locations and evacuated all students and teachers out of the buildings.”

Students and teachers assumed their was a real problem somewhere on campus. This was the second fire drill this month.

“We had to stop what we were doing, it also hurt because I missed practice on Monday for dance so I had to struggle to figure out the dance routine,” said freshman Brandon Hall.

AS and Saber buildings were clear to head back to class, but students and teachers who had class in Rough Rider building had to wait for the situation to clear up.

“We had to evacuate the building because a sprinkler head deposited a large sum of water on the bottom floor of our Rough Rider building,” Principal Melvin Echard said in an e-mail. “Our five alarm system activated and followed our evacuation procedures.”

When water flooded the hallway, a very large amount made its way to the dance room.

“Water rushed under the door and my students rushed into action to pick up everything off the floor,” dance coach Alison Redding said. “I am going to buy pizza for them for doing great work.”

After the students in dance removed everything from the floor, they rushed out making their way to the back of the school.

Approximately 30 minutes after the incident, students from Rough Rider were allowed to go to class, getting the chance to walk by the accident and see for themselves what was going on, many trying to take pictures. Officers and assistant principals made sure students kept walking to their destination.

Students who had dance that period had to go through the band doors, exit the building and enter the back of the dance room.

Students were aware of what was going on, watching the custodians clean and dry up the floor but they didn’t know what had caused it to bust. The assistant principal and officers started to investigate what had caused the damage.

“I was by the door and I opened it saw three people with a soccer ball,” Hall said. “I closed the door and heard a loud noise, I saw the water coming down so fast. Water was coming into the dance room we immediately grabbed the stuff off the floor and moved it away.”

The next day students were able to walk through the hall, as the damage to the hall was minor. The dance room floor will have too be redone due to the flood.

“In the hallway, we only had to replace the sprinkler, so that wasn’t so bad,” Murach said. “But the dance room floor will be a larger repair. There will be disciplinary consequences for the actions that caused this issue.”

Every student in fifth period dance got rewarded with pizza for helping out.

At the end even though the floor is not fixed for the dance room they still are grateful that everyone helped around doing an amazing job.

“Shout out to the TR coaching staff for springing into action and helping to save the studio from the wall of water! What great team work! I really appreciate you,” Redding said in an e-mail.

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