Fire In School’s Telecommunications Room
An overnight fire at CedarBridge Academy earlier this week may have been caused by a wiring fault the school’s chief operations officer said today
Stuart Crockwell said on Tuesday [May 17] morning before the start of the school day, CedarBridge Academy security discovered that a fire had taken place overnight in a telecommunications room.
That room is a fire proof room and the fire was contained in that one room.
An investigation is underway by the Bermuda Fire Service as to the cause of the fire, but it is believed that it may have started as a result of an electrical fault.
“No evacuation process was exercised as the fire occurred overnight and was discovered by security at 7.30 am,” said Mr. Crockwell. “No-one was hurt as the building was empty and secured.”
The fire alarm had sounded at 11:30 pm on Monday night. The 911 Dispatchers who handle the calls directed the Bermuda Police Service to attend but the attending police officers did not discover anything.
The Bermuda Fire Service were requested after the incident was discovered in the morning. They and the Cedarbridge Academy security, were not called by the 911 dispatchers at the time of the alarm.
Major damage was sustained to the equipment and the walls in the telecommunications room. This equipment is used to support computers and telephones systems in classrooms in the immediate area of the incident. The room is an equipment room and is not part of the classroom inventory.
However, several classrooms were affected by the smoke damage and the equipment lines that lead to those classrooms.
Extensive work has been carried out thus far to return the classrooms to full use, however, this has not affected the teaching programmes.
The insurers have been notified and will be attending the site, once it has been released by the Bermuda Fire Department.
CedarBridge Academy chairman Larry Mussenden extended his thanks on behalf of the school board, staff and students to all of the services which attended the scene and who have helped to get the telecommunications room and the school back in order.
He extended his best wishes to the student body in their upcoming exams, reminded them that the community has the greatest expectations of each and every one of them in their career and life choices and challenged some of them to become the Chief Fire Officer and the Commissioner of Police in years to come.
Sorry wait, Cedarbridge has a COO??
Go figure!!
And it’s Stuart Crockwell????
Nicole—- As you are aware, the truth is sometimes stranger than fiction.
Wouldn’t it make sense that the 911 dispatchers called the FIRE SERVICE to action a FIRE ALARM rather than the police?
you know i was thinking the exact same thing. rather odd and a little silly to not call the people who handle fires to put out a fire.
I agree. I wonder what the school’s insurance policy says. What the security firm’s insurance policy says. 911 won’t have insurance. This is an economic stimulus plan in the making……for lawyers. This’ll keep ‘em busy for months and months. And Larry Mussenden exhorts the students to become Chief Fire Officers or Commissioners of Police…man, there’s a world of additional opportunities if the kids up there “watch this space”!! An economy in the making.
I guess since the police didn’t see any smoke, they thought there was no fire. Good policing. The next time it could be more severe if left overnight to burn.
In Atlanta, there was a case where someone called in a fire at their residence and because the fire department could not see any smoke (from the road), they assumed no fire. Rather than thoroughly checking it out they left. Unfortunately, someone lost their life as indeed there was a fire.
It sorta was left overnight to burn, the alarm went off at 11:30pm and the damage was discovered at 07:30am.
Maybe the damage would have been less if the alarm was verified and checked out, as the system allows for before calling it a false alarm.
Take note of the words ‘The next time’. I am aware of the length of time this fire burned. The next time it could spread and burn down the entire school if the alarm is not taken seriously and thoroughly investigated.
Stuart Crockwell, you are doing a great job as the COO of Cedarbridge. One thing I must say, is the the students have a lot of respect for you. Keep up the good work.