Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Fire Claims Top Half Million

Normally April 1 is a day when harmless practical jokes are played.

This year, however, there was nothing funny about April Fool's Day, as Prescott High School sustained severe damage in a fire.

According to Prescott Superintendent Don Johnston, $550,758.47 in insurance claims have already been turned in to the school's insurance carrier. This figure does not include a dime of reconstruction costs or claims.

Johnston said this sum is for cleaning and moving into other areas, not the administrative offices destroyed or the auditorium, which was heavily damaged as well.

But officials with PHS have battled since April 1 to get everything back on an even keel.

Johnston said all classes will be back on the PHS campus for the 1996-97 academic year, with the exception of the computer classes. The computer classes will continue to be held in the new computer lab at Prescott Elementary School.

Both computer labs at PHS were destroyed by the fire.

The band hall, on the back side of the main building, was almost unaffected by the blaze. Equipment inside was covered with soot, but, for the most part, undamaged. Johnston said the PHS band will return to its normal surroundings next year as well.

Cleaning and painting of the damaged areas in the main building was done by ServiceMasters of Memphis, Tenn. The same company cleaned up after the bombing of the World Trade Center in New York.

Some classes were moved into the gymnasium, separated by partitions. The gym floor was covered with a rubber compound to prevent damage. Johnston said there will be no classes held in the gym next year, and the floors will be resealed as they are every year to get ready for the next basketball season.

A representative from the architectural firm of Lewis, Elliott and Studard, of Little Rock, the firm which built the main PHS building, will be on hand at the June 18 school board meeting to discuss rebuilding. According to Johnston, the meeting will be held at 6 p.m. in the home economics building.

At the time of the fire, classes were cancelled until the extent of the damage could be determined.

A special board meeting was held April 3 so board members could be brought up to date on the problems faced by the district.

At this meeting, Johnston told the board Arkansas State Police Lt. Mike Fletcher said arson was not suspected as a cause of the fire.

Johnston and other school officials were touched by the outpouring of offers of assistance from the people of the area after the fire. Many calls were logged with residents asking what they could do to help.

Jim Thomas, a field adjuster with USF&G, the district's insurance policy holder through the local Alliance Insurance agency, also provided the district with good news shortly after the fire. He told the district the original design of the structure impeded the flow of the fire. This prevented the blaze from continuing its path of destruction down the complete west end of the facility.

The major damage was in the foyer, principal's office, computer labs and auditorium. A natural break exists between this area and the rest of the building.

According to D.M. Lewis, the original designer of the building, the structure was constructed at a cost of $12.70 per square foot in 1973. The 37,200 square foot facility was built for $472,000.

It is not known how much it will cost to repair the damage caused by the fire, but it is expected to be more than the $12.70 per square foot of 23 years ago.

Johnston said it is also not known when bids will be let for the rebuilding to begin.

"Everything has worked out well with the students going to PES," Johnston said. "Everyone understood the situation and made the best of things they could."

He praised the staffs of PHS and PES for the way they worked together to insure tranquility during the transition phase with high school students going to the elementary school.