MASON COUNTY, W.Va. (WSAZ) – The effects of the bitter cold temperatures during the holiday weekend have made winter break feel like anything but a vacation for Hannan Junior/Senior High School officials.
Concerned families reached out to WSAZ after learning a pipe burst in the ceiling of a boys’ restroom on Christmas Day, leaking through the hallway and damaging the gym floor.
“As our crews jumped in to find out what was going on, we discovered that a fitting on a sprinkler pipe had broken,” Mason County Schools Superintendent Dr. Keith Burdette said Wednesday. “Their sprinkler systems are intended to dump a lot of water into an area in a short amount of time and it did just that.”
The water damaged parts of the school’s basketball court.
“Our biggest concern right now is of course with a wooden gym floor because wood and water do not mix well,” Burdette said. “When you get wood this wet, it has a tendency to want to curl or cup or warp and so even though we had people on the scene, as soon as we learned about it, people jumped onto this and started taking the water off of the gym floor.”
Burdette said the school’s principal has already started coordinating with other schools and organizations throughout the county so the Wildcats have other practice and game spaces as the floor dries. The gym also serves as the main space for physical education classes for the school.
However, Burdette said he is crediting the quick action of maintenance crews for saving the Wildcats’ season.
“[Christmas], that was one of the days when people really probably didn’t, what their plans disrupted. We also had people who came out on the on the legal holiday on Monday and did work as well. I just really appreciate the efforts that they’ve they’ve made to put students first and to try to take good care of our facilities.”
At least for this week, coaches have been asked to not let teams practice at the school gym while the floor dries out an exact date for the gym to fully reopen is unclear.
Burdette expects faculty and staff are expected to return on time Jan. 3 with students set to come back the next day. He adds the district is in the process of scheduling an air quality check so everyone can safely return to the building.
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Christmas Day pipe burst damages Hannan Jr./Sr. High School gym … – WSAZ
