Sprinkler Floods Hancock Middle School after Fire

Hancock Middle School was closed today and will remain closed tomorrow after a small overnight fire. Students were sent home this morning after officials learned the sprinkler system left the floors covered in water.
Mondays at most schools get off to a slow start, but this start to the school week at Hancock Middle School has risen to a whole new level, about one inch of water to be exact. Hancock Middle School Principal Dr. Jessica Taylor said, “I was expecting some water on the floor, not everything flooded.”
School leaders tell News 25 they found out most of the school had been covered in water just before 7 a.m. Monday morning, about four hours after the sprinkler system doused a fire that broke out in one classroom. “We made a quick decision once the buses started arriving and parents to tell them to take their students on home because we knew this was not going to be a quick cleanup,” said Dr. Taylor.
The sprinkler system spread about an inch of water throughout the entire school. Now crews will be working well into Tuesday to clean up the mess in more than 60 classrooms. Assistant Superintendent Donnie Gholston said, “One water spicket caused all of this. It did its job in putting the fire out, but it did flood the whole school.”
But one thing apparently did not do its job. Officials say the school’s alarm system failed to alert the fire department when the fire broke out. “The company will have to deal with our insurance vendor now,” said Gholston.
They say they’re just thankful it wasn’t worse. “We have that one classroom that has burn damage and we probably will not be able to use it this week, possibly even a little longer, but no major infrastructure affected,” said Gholston.
ServPro Fire and Water Damage are working with the school’s janitorial service to get things dried out and back up and running as soon as possible.