News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
News and Opinion from Sisters, Oregon
Art kilns were undamaged by a flood after a fire alarm went off at Sisters High School.
The heat from a kiln in the Sisters High School art room set off a fire sprinkler Wednesday night, flooding the art room, a corridor and soaking into the band and choir room.
However, quick action by the Sisters-Camp Sherman Rural Fire Protection District and the school custodians appears to have kept damage to a minimum. In fact, other than clean-up and some modifications to prevent a repeat, the school district may have escaped any impact at all, according to district maintenance manager Bob Martin.
“We had some art work baking overnight,” SHS Principal Bob Macauley explained.
The heat from that baking kiln tripped a sensor believed to be set at 135 degrees, releasing water from a sprinkler above the kilns.
“Sprinkler” is a bit of a misnomer, Macauley noted.
“They’re like fire hoses, really,” he said.
Water dumped down over the kilns and spread through the art room, down the corridor and into the band and choir room.
Fortunately for the clean-up crew, only the band and choir rooms are carpeted.
Firefighters and custodians shut off the flow and mopped up quickly and the district called in a water-damage specialist to dry out the carpets.
According to Martin, there was no wicking up the walls and it appears — so far — that there was no damage to the carpet or to the sheetrock, though Fire Captain Thornton Brown said that some of the sheetrock in the kiln room “got really wet.”
There was some initial concern that the kilns themselves might have been damaged by their dousing, but Martin said that they appear to be okay.
That means the district is probably only liable for clean-up costs that Martin estimates will run in the neighborhood of $1,000.
Macauley said the 135-degree sensor will be replaced with a 212-degree sensor in the kiln room and new ventilation grates were already scheduled for installation over spring break, which is now underway.
He said those two steps will hopefully prevent any repeat of Wednesday’s flooding incident.
Jim Cornelius is editor in chief of The Nugget and author of “Warriors of the Wildlands: True Tales of the Frontier Partisans.” A history buff, he explores frontier history across three centuries and several continents on his podcast, The Frontier Partisans. For more information visit www.frontierpartisans.com.
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