Wednesday fire means no school

High School and Career & Technical Center closed

WOONSOCKET — The high school on Cass Avenue and the nearby Woonsocket Area Career & Technical Center are closed today after a fire broke out in a heating unit Wednesday afternoon causing smoke damage in the third floor of the high school building.

School Superintendent Patrick McGee said Wednesday night that he opted to close the school while the clean up of the ceiling area where the heating unit was located continued. The fire in the unit was quickly extinguished by school staff and no injuries were reported after the building had been evacuated, according to McGee.

“I canceled school at the high school and the Career Center tomorrow,” McGee said while explaining that students at the Career Center, which serves neighboring communities, also use the high school at times.

“I think it will be ready on Friday,” McGee said while explained the closing would allow the clean up crew that had been brought in after the fire to finish clearing the building of any smoke issues and ceiling tile damage.

The fire was found in a ceiling heating unit in the third floor corridor at about 12:30 p.m. by facilities department employees who happened to

be working nearby, McGee said. The employees were able to shutdown the unit and extinguish the fire before it

could cause further damage, McGee said. The fire department was called to the school and students and staff evacuated to nearby Cass Park while the problem on the third floor was investigated.

McGee said it appeared the fire had been confined to the heating unit. The building was cleared to reopen before the end of the school day, he

said. “Right now there is no structural damage but because of the smoke we had to hire a company to do the clean up,” McGee said.

Students were allowed to enter the building collect their belongings before going home, McGee said.

The clean up company was ventilating the school and removing any damaged ceiling

tiles on the third floor, according to McGee. That work was continuing late Wednesday night and in order to make sure any potential smoke impact had been resolved, McGee said he decided closing the schools would be the best course of action.

The school department’s chief operating officer, Alfred Notorianni, was working with the clean up company to make sure the school would be ready for the return of students, McGee said.

The fire occurred in one of the high school’s older hvac units and all of the units similar to it were also shutdown, McGee noted. All will be checked thoroughly before they are brought back online, he added.