Oconto High School reopened its door for students and staff Monday, nearly three weeks after a fire forced them to relocate to the middle school while every sign of the fire was wiped clean.
“It’s so nice to be back to normal!” Spanish teacher Ben Bourassa said Monday morning.
“It’s a lot cleaner,” said sophomore Nathan Ortiz. “It’s very nice. Welcoming.”
The fire caused fire and water damage in the bathroom, water damage in nearby science classrooms and widespread smoke damage via the school’s ventilation system. It originated in a men’s bathroom when a 16-year-old boy’s cigarette accidentally ignited a toilet paper roll and the stall divider.
“That was a very unfortunate thing to happen,” teacher Brian Pearson said. He said he was saddened by the loss of two student-painted murals that couldn’t be salvaged in the science hallway. The murals represented a continuity between generations of students, he said.
“That’s gone. You can’t get that back,” he said.
The remainder of the school was returned to pre-fire condition, according to J. Murphy, senior vice president of operations for Paul Davis National, a fire restoration company.
“Because there was no real structural damage … the only thing you’re going to notice is clean and bright,” he said.
Paul Davis National employees worked around the clock in 12-hour shifts, seven days a week, before wrapping up Friday night. During peak times, 300 employees and subcontractors were working at the school during the day and 140 at night.
Employees cleaned every item. Materials were boxed, removed from the school, deodorized and stored in semi-trailers, then returned to the classroom.
“It was nonstop, until we demobilize our trailer tonight,” Murphy said Friday.
He said the costs for the clean-up are expected to be close to the $5 million estimate the company provided in April.
One of the challenges the crews faced was cleaning everything above the ceiling tiles.
Erasing the stench of the fire also was a challenge. The composite material of the bathroom partitions produced an acrid, black smoke when it burned.
“That’s one reason we had to take everything not nailed down out of the building,” Murphy said of the odor.
By order of the fire marshal, the composite stall dividers in every bathroom were replaced with metal dividers. In the men’s bathroom where the fire started, everything is new: urinals, sinks, flooring, lights.
“Oh, this is sharp!” Superintendent Sara Croney said, after getting her first look at the bathroom.
The science hallway outside the bathroom has new paint on the walls, white ceiling tiles to replace the dingy ones and a shiny, waxed floor.
“It’s several shades brighter than it was,” said Murphy, examining the hallway.
Lara Nichols, science teacher and track coach, was rearranging her classroom Friday afternoon with the help of her track team.
“I think it’s going to be like the first day of school again,” she said, in anticipation of Monday. She joked about finding “a surprise in every drawer,” and kept the team busy moving microscopes, lab equipment, textbooks and the other items to their proper places.
Despite the misplaced items, Nichols said she was happy to finish the year at the high school.
“I’m excited to be back. I really love that,” she said.
Administrative Assistant Melodie Lorang said working in “a small box” at the middle school was tough.
“I am so thankful we had a roof over our head, but it’s great to be back in our own space,” she said.
Categories
