THE FOLLOWING IS A PARIS UNION SCHOOL DISTRICT 95 RELEASE
Paris, IL – On Christmas Day, a fire suppression line in the front gym lobby broke at Paris High School, causing significant damage to the building, including damage to the gym floor. Despite precautions being taken to prevent such an incident, the line broke and flooded the school with water.
Individuals were on the scene within 30 minutes of the line breaking and worked alongside ServPro, a company specializing in restoration and clean up, throughout the evening to clean up the site and mitigate any additional losses. School administrators are currently working with the insurance company, flooring companies, plumbers, electricians, and other experts to clean up the site and repair the damage.
Damage to Paris High School Gym floor due to broken fire suppression line.
After a thorough inspection, it was determined that a two foot wide cut section needed to be taken out around the main gym floor to check for water damage. Upon further inspection, water was found under the vapor barrier located beneath the gym floor. Despite various drying techniques and mitigation efforts, it has been determined that the gym floor will need to be replaced.
This project will take some time and may not be completed until sometime within the summer. Classes will resume on January 4 for students as normal, but athletic events will be rescheduled to different locations while the floor is being repaired. The school administration is working hard to locate alternative sites for events such as PE courses, athletic programs, May Fete, and graduation in advance so that they are not affected.
Additional water damage in Paris High School Library.
Coaches will communicate with their teams about any changes to schedules and locations for practices and events. The athletic director will continue to post weekly schedules on social media and provide updates to the newspaper about any changes to competition schedules. Please rest assured that graduation and May Fete will not change in terms of their originally scheduled dates as posted on the school calendar.
The school administration and community would like to express their gratitude to the Paris Fire Department, City of Paris, Jason Gore of Gore Plumbing, Bruce Young of Church Insurance, school maintenance personnel, and administration who came out on Christmas Day to work as a team to ensure the damage was cleaned up. Their efforts are greatly appreciated.
