honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Thursday, April 13, 2006

Fire-damaged Waiakea High reopens Monday

Advertiser Staff

HILO, Hawai'i — Officials at Waiakea High School continued to work yesterday to relocate staff displaced by a fire early Tuesday that caused $1.5 million damage to the administration building.

Principal Patricia Nekoba said the campus is expected to reopen Monday to the school's 1,300 students.

The damaged portion of the administration building has been cordoned off while fire and police investigators and insurance adjusters sift through the debris, and school staff have been unable to conduct a more thorough assessment of losses, she said.

Third-quarter report cards were to have been distributed Tuesday, and Nekoba said those records were not damaged by the fire and may be handed out next week.

The blaze is believed to have started in the registrar's office. The office, the health room and areas used by counselors, special-education staff, the principal and vice principal suffered major smoke, fire and water damage.

Fire inspectors and police detectives are investigating the cause. The fire was the third on campus in two months. Fires on April 5 and Feb. 15 damaged portable classrooms, and investigators suspect arson in both cases.

Anyone with information about Tuesday's fire should call detective Tom Poy at (808) 961-2383, the police nonemergency number at (808) 935-3311, or CrimeStoppers at (808) 961-8300 in Hilo or (808) 329-8181 in Kona.