FRYEBURG – The 215 or so pupils who attend the Charles A. Snow School should be able to return to their classrooms this fall despite extensive smoke and water damage from a fire Friday.
Teachers may face the most difficulty due to the blaze, which was largely contained to a wing of the school near the SAD 72 offices, Superintendent Gary MacDonald said Tuesday. Cleanup is expected to take much of the summer, and access to the school will be limited through part of August.
“The damage, I would say, is certainly worse than we’d anticipated Friday, because of the smoke and water,” MacDonald said. He said it is believed the fire was caused by an electrical problem.
And while crews from the Fryeburg Fire Department managed to extinguish the blaze quickly, smoke that spread through the building and a burst pipe have created a few obstacles. Five classrooms will have to be emptied for cleaning, MacDonald said. All desks and salvageable teaching supplies will be cleaned and stored in containers now being brought to the school grounds.
In addition, water from the burst pipe broke up old asbestos tiles that lay underneath carpet in some of the school hallways. “The week of (July 25) the building will be closed down entirely to allow for the decontamination,” MacDonald said, referring to the asbestos removal.
There is no water or electricity at the elementary school due to the fire, he added, making the cleanup process that much more difficult. The district has hired an electrician and a plumber to address those issues.
Things that can’t be cleaned, MacDonald noted, “will be inventoried and replaced.”
As for costs, MacDonald said an early Fire Department estimate of $20,000 was very low. He did not have an updated estimate.
According to the school district Web site, the Charles A. Snow School was built in 1949 at the corner of Pine and Portland streets to alleviate crowding at the building that existed on the site. Snow was superintendent of schools from 1923 to 1948.
A passing truck driver reported seeing smoke near the school about 2:30 a.m. Friday.
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