Carihi Secondary School in Campbell River has been closed due to fire and smoke damage in a late-night Nov. 21 blaze.
Campbell River Fire Chief Dan Verdun says crews were notified of the blaze shortly after 11 p.m. and arrived to find a ‘substantially working fire.’
“The fire has continued to work in some of the spaces above the sprinkler system and has extended into other areas of the school,” Verdun says.
The school's configuration and the flames' location created some initial difficulties for fire crews.
“We had to access through some gates and enclosed spaces to get to the fire initially. The issue is of course the fire got up into the roof space and travelled some distance down a couple of the hallways which made it a little bit more difficult and the fire had spread a little further than we thought by the time we had gotten into the structure” he says.
Campbell River firefighters were assisted through mutual aid callouts to Courtenay and Oyster River Fire Departments.
Investigators will have to determine the cause of the blaze but it is not considered to be suspicious.
”Best we can tell it looks like it started back towards the kitchen area and then it migrated down some hallways and up into the mezzanine areas of the gym,” Verdun notes.
School District 72 notified the students and parents about the incident through an ‘Emergency Notification’ through the district’s website:
'Due to a fire at the school overnight, Carihi Secondary is closed today, Nov. 22, 2024. Thank you to the Campbell River, Courtenay, and Oyster River Fire Departments for their work to contain the fire and ensuring everyone's safety. We will provide further updates as they are available.'
Many students already knew about the blaze Thursday night as they were on the school grounds watching crews working to save the building.
Grade 10 student Lexi Human was called to the scene from a chat group at her work.
”All my classes are down in that area and probably burnt to a crisp at this point but hopefully some classes will resume,” Human says.
Human is concerned about any long closure at the school.
”We have a lot of events going on right now, especially with Christmas around the corner so we have Angel Tree and just donation bins that we’re doing to support certain people and a lot of people will be really disappointed to not come in tomorrow,” she says.
The Campbell River Mirror has contacted the school district for further comment and information about future plans for students.
