Police suspicious of fire that burns Waiakea school
HILO » Police are describing as "suspicious" a fire at Waiakea High School shortly after midnight yesterday that caused at least $1 million in damage and has closed the school for a week.
The school is expected to open Monday, Principal Patricia Nekoba said.
The fire in a concrete block administration building follows three much smaller smoldering fires in wooden "portable" buildings on the school campus last Wednesday. The Fire Department said arson was suspected in those cases because of the strong smell of flammable liquid at the scene.
Nekoba said this week's fire was under investigation.
The fire damaged a room where school records were kept, but it wasn't known whether the fire started inside the room or outside on a walkway. "It appears to be arson," she said, but there was nothing to directly link yesterday's fire with those of last week, she said.
No student problems have arisen on campus that might offer an explanation, she said. If the fire was started by a disgruntled person, she urged the perpetrator to come forward and get help.
Nekoba said neighbors reported the fire, but firefighters responding to a 1:12 a.m. call initially had a hard time finding it on the sprawling campus because the flames were contained inside the building.
Most of the damage was due to water and to smoke, which got in ventilation ducts and was carried to other rooms, she said.
However, the fire destroyed a major electrical and Internet hub for the school, Nekoba said.
It also compromised the structure of the room where it took place and a covered walkway outside the room, she said.
Although the school's 1,275 students have been told to return Monday, the school staff of about 100 have been told to continue to report to work.
In 2002, an early morning fire of unknown origin starting in a storage building directly damaged three Waiakea High classrooms and caused smoke and water damage to other rooms.