Water Catastrophe

Thursday’s sudden closure of the main hallway between the North Commons and the main building left students funneling through the music and foreign language halls for the remainder of the week.

The flooding was determined to be the result of a baseball hitting a joint of the water pipe just above the batting cages in the upstairs gym area.

The spraying water first flooded the batting cage and floor before leaking down into the hallway through the ceiling.

“The baseball team was upstairs hitting and someone hit a ball through the net [and] hit the weakest part of the pipe,” senior Daniel Langston said. “I got really wet.”

An individual trying to call attention to the water leak triggered the fire alarm which prompted an evacuation of the school.

Under normal circumstances, a person who triggers the fire alarm, without there being an actual fire, can be charged with a class 1 misdemeanor under Arizona law A.R.S. 13-2907.

In this case, however, CHS Principal Stacie Zanzucchi made it clear that the individual who pulled the fire alarm did so to bring attention to the emergency.

When students and staff began to reenter the building, water was already visibly dripping from the upstairs area into the hallway beneath.

Students staying after school, as well as members of the baseball team, first tried to grab trash cans from around the school to catch the water. The speed and amount of water coming from the ceiling increased for the next 30 minutes as custodians and administrators tried to determine where the source of the leak was.

“I see our staff working together to contain the situation,” English teacher Karla Heilman said. “The safety of our students is our main priority.”

After 10 minutes, the first ceiling tiles began to fall with water seen following gravity down the hallway, gradually approaching the stairwell toward the English classroom.

Over ten members of the Flagstaff Fire Department and Flagstaff Unified School District maintenance and custodial services department, coming from several different schools, to help break ceiling tiles to try and prevent water from pooling on top of tiles, possibly creating a dangerous environment for those standing below the ceiling, as well as to prevent water from flowing down the hallway and into the classrooms.

Staff members expressed concern for the newly replaced gym floor and immediately started pushing water out of the gym area with squeegees. Two Coconino custodians worked in the upstairs area squeegeeing water toward the back wall to prevent water from spilling over onto the gym floor.

Firefighters ensured the safety of the trophies contained in the hallway by covering them with a plastic tarp.

According to Zanzucchi, Coconino has insurance for water damage. A flood response team responded the same day to begin cleaning and restoring the hallway.