After a morning workout on the second day of school, cross-country coach Haley Barrett attempted to switch on the fluorescent locker room lights. Yet nothing happened. When she returned 15 minutes later, she sensed something was wrong.
“You could smell something burning, it also sounded like the speaker was making a popping noise, as the lights were continuing to flicker on and off.”
At 6 a.m., Richard Still, Director of Safety & Facilities & Physical Plant, detected something burning, which he traced to the main electrical panel next to the Lower School playground. He opened the panel to discover it scorched and destroyed. The fire had also damaged most of the electrical panels next to the playground, ruining the plastic wiring around some of the electric power poles.
The cause of the fire remains unknown, but facilities manager Salvador Aquino, who observed the aftermath, speculated that it was the equipment’s age and repeated surges from the supplier.
Due to the power outage, administrators announced the closure of Lower School just after 7 a.m on Wednesday, Aug 21st. Without power in the gym, several athletic practices were canceled that afternoon.
“Starting that morning, we had to start calling contractors to locate a generator that could supply an entire school,” Aquino said. “We also had to locate 10 electricians to work through the night to have Lower School ready for operation Thursday morning.”
The school hired Worldwide Power Products to provide a 90,000-pound generator to power the Lower School and gym. The engine was so massive that it came in the bed of an 18-wheeler, which is stationed in the corner of the Lower School parking lot.
One of the generator’s directors was Jack Crawford, older brother of junior Gracey Crawford.
“We build these larger portable generator sets, Power Modules, with used generator sets that are removed from data centers or building basements, refurbish them, then re-purpose them.”
The generator, which cranks out over 2,700 horsepower, was delivered after school, less than 12 hours after the fire was detected. Crawford’s contractors and the St. John’s facility team worked until 1 a.m to hook up the generator.
“We positioned the distribution gear as close to the failed gear as possible, running multiple strings of 4/0 copper cable from the generator to the distribution gear,” Crawford said. “Then we ran multiple strings of 4/0 cable to the electrical connections for each electrical supply.”
In an email sent Wednesday afternoon, Head of School Dan Alig said he was “guardedly optimistic” that the school would reopen the next day. Thursday morning at 5 a.m, a follow-up email went out to relieved Lower School parents, informing them that campus would reopen that day.
“It is our goal to be safely operational every school day so there is no interruption to the students’ education, and we will do whatever it takes to make sure it happens,” Aquino said. “We were tired but happy, with the ability to open the Lower School in less than 24 hours.”
Lost in the chaos was Walter, a betta fish in class four teacher Marie Matter’s room. Without power, the water filter and heater in the fish tank were not working. Fellow class four science teacher Michelle Hayes went to collect her computer and confirmed that Walter was alive and well.
“Between multiple power outages in Lower School this year and surviving Hurricane Beryl, we’ve been calling Walter our fish with nine lives,” Matter said.
The facilities team is still unsure how long it will take to fix the electrical system, but they are planning to restore power in the Lower School this weekend. Until then, the diesel generator will continue humming along.
