the blog of a bear

this is where a bear will post stuff.

WRMS fire

more on the WRMS fire, a converted and accessible PDF of questions and answers.

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Those of you reading this blog will know I’ve been tracking the fire that broke out at the W. Ross macdonald school this past sunday.
A quick google turned out
this
and that article led to this
PDf document
that has been edited, and pasted below for you to read in an accessible format.

W. Ross Macdonald Fire
Questions and Answers
Q. What happened at the school?
A. There was a fire in a prep room on the 3rd floor of the main school building. The fire broke out on Sunday, January 9, 2011 at 4:52 am. The fire department
arrived at the school within 4 minutes. No one was hurt. The Fire Marshall has determined that the fire was accidental.
Q. What was the damage?
A. Two classrooms received significant fire damage. Five other
classrooms have smoke and water damage.
Q. Is the environment safe and healthy?
A. The air quality has been tested many times in all parts of the school. The levels are below the accepted level. The building is safe and healthy for
all staff and students.
Q. How is the building being cleaned?
A. A restoration company has been on-site since the fire. They have started the cleaning process. This is a very large undertaking and will take several
days to complete. All rooms affected will be thoroughly cleaned, walls and surface areas washed and deodorized, carpets shampooed, windows washed. Staff
and students will be allowed back in rooms when they are clean, safe and ready for student learning. Alternate locations have been arranged for some classrooms.
Q. Will my child’s learning be affected?
A. Teachers have spent considerable time this week planning to
ensure that all key learnings will be addressed during the
remainder of this school year. Additional instructional days will
not be added to the school year due to the missed days.
Q. What will happen to my students’ personal belongings?
A. All student belongings’ and items in the affected area will be professionally cleaned by the restoration company.

a fire emergency has been reported in the main school building, backroom… oops, I mean minikitchen!

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so, as reported
yesterday.
the W. Ross Macdonald school actually found a use for it’s fire systems and no, it wasn’t being pulled by the deaf blind, this time.
from the same
source
that helped me track down yesterday’s linked in article, you have
this
article.
The fuck were

a toaster, toaster oven, microwave oven, coffee maker and kettle

doing plugged into one power bar, in the first place?
This makes me glad, yet again, I got the hell outta their when I did.
the article also indicates.

Extensive fire damage was limited to the prep room and roof area, while smoke and heat damage extended to the two attached classrooms.

no word has circulated on how long the school will remain closed.
watch this blog for further developments.

I never thought I'd see the day where those firedrills would be a use.

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Over my years of attending the W. Ross Macdonald school, we always had fire drills on a monthly bases, sometimes planned, sometimes caused by some stupid deaf blind twerp pulling the alarm.
I could tell stories about those deaf blind people pulling the fire alarm, but that’s not what this post is about.
back to the main topic of this post.
I never thought I’d see the day where the school firesystem would actually
serve
a purpose other than be a toy for the deaf blind
But last sunday, it turned out that it
did
Here’s the article in it’s entirety

BRANTFORD (BCN) – Damage caused by a weekend fire at the W. Ross Macdonald School for the Blind has been pegged at between $400,000 and $450,000.
Brantford fire prevention officer Darren Zettler said the blaze damaged two second-floor classrooms and a preparatory room.
A monitored alarm system alerted fire crews to the blaze at 4:51 a.m. on Sunday. With the exception of security personnel, the Brant Avenue school was empty at the time of the fire.
Zettler said the fire is believed to have started in a preparatory room that adjoins two classrooms. Most of the damage is located in the preparatory room, but smoke damage spread to the classrooms, he said.
Potential causes of the fire have been narrowed down to an electrical failure, overloaded power bar or someone unintentionally leaving an appliance on.
“We are leaning toward the first, but haven’t made a final determination yet,” Zettler said.

we here at the blog will be following this story, as it develops, and we thank
Carin Headrick
for tossing this initial link at us.
related: I feel like blaming some teacher for leaving an appliance on, why, because most of them, would be that stupid. at least, the ones that I hated, in my day