May 20, 2019 by Carol Britton Meyer
Hingham High School students had an unexpected day off on Friday when a small fire broke out in a closet in one of the classrooms and the school was closed for the day.
After a cleanup of the area following the fire, classes were expected to resume as usual this morning, with a 10 a.m. late start time. But that didn't happen.
Instead, due to what Principal Rick Swanson called in a 9:45 a.m. tweet "unexpected challenges in reopening the building," supervised field day activities were planned in the stadium "until we have clearance to enter the building."
HHS PTO President Sara Mason Ader reported to the Anchor that the students were able to enter the building at about 11 a.m. today once the issue was resolved.
In an email to the HHS community at 11:39 a.m. announcing that the school had reopened, Swanson wrote: "Our unexpected field day offered sunshine and some fun, but we're happy to report that it was short-lived. When authorities gave us clearance to occupy the building at 11 a.m. today, students and teachers returned immediately to classrooms.
"We certainly regret the confusion caused by unexpected events (a malfunctioning fire alarm and a problem with hot water) this morning. At the same time, we greatly appreciate the patience and flexibility that everybody (students, teachers, administrators, custodians, maintenance staff, kitchen staff, etc.) brought to the task. Opening school today turned out to be a much greater challenge than we had anticipated, and it could only be accomplished with the combined efforts of many people. We're hugely grateful to all of them."
When the field day plan was announced in Swanson's earlier tweet, Ader said she received calls from parents, including doctors, who were concerned about the potential of the students being outside all day long without sunscreen.
Ader, who is the board chairman for the Children's Melanoma Prevention Foundation, based in Norwell, was able to obtain sunscreen for students' use.
Lunches for the students were being prepared at other schools, at least for the first lunch period, Ader said.
According to Swanson's tweet, today will count as an official day of school, with attendance taken and academic activities resuming once there was clearance to enter the school. Because of Friday's school closing, the last day of school for Hingham High students only will be Monday, June 15.
Looking back, HFD received a call from the alarm company that services the high school at 5:19 a.m. Friday morning and HFD crews arrived shortly thereafter. The fire, which is still under investigation by Hingham and state fire officials, was extinguished in about an hour, according to Murphy. HFD crews remained on the scene to assist with securing the building. The state investigators arrived a few hours after the fire was put out. No injuries were reported.
The cause, while is still under investigation, appears to be an electrical equipment malfunction, but that has not yet been confirmed. "There were a VCR, some TVs, and computers in the area," Murphy said. "The fire was contained in a closet, but there was some damage from smoke and water from the sprinkler system that activated."
A commercial company is called in to do a "restoration cleanup," Hingham Fire Chief Steve Murphy said, due to damage from water from the sprinklers and smoke residue.