Burning schools

[Tormod]

Now this is really something. Last night some teenagers set fire to my oldest daughter's school. Luckily her school comprises several small buildings rather than just a large one, but the arts and crafts rooms went up in smoke. We don't yet know if the library survived, nor do we know the status of a play center where the younger kids (including my daughter) stay after school hours.

 

Story in Norwegian with a pic and a video:

Politiet mener skolebrann er påsatt

 

The school is empty due to summer break but I just find it so incredibly *ignorant* to burn down schools...especially in your own neighborhood!

 

I'm on vacation so I didn't see the fire, but my wife called me and told me there had been like 10 fire trucks plus police and ambulances etc...

[Mercedes Benzene]

Wow. That's really unbelievable. :hihi:

 

I don't understand why anyone would do this....

You'd have to be really crazy.

 

Well, best of luck to your daughter. Give us some updates (Will the school be ready for next school year?) occasionally.

[Boerseun]

Sheesh... bloody idiots.

 

Was it only partial, or destroyed? Do they know what their motives were? If it was to actually destroy the school, then that should be punished harshly. But then again, kids like to try new things, so if they only lit a cigarette (for instance - kids do tend to try out stuff) then it might have been a simple accident, a matter of 'boys will be boys', I guess.

[Qfwfq]

Boys will be boys, yeah, and sometimes they'll get up to some serious mischeive. Especially if they don't like going to school. Makes no sense to burn the building, unless they hope it will postpone the start of school...

 

A few years back a couple of young vandals set fire to quite a few vehicles around town, including one in a private parking place at the ground floor of the condo I dwell in, between some columns and underneath one apartment which got fully roasted and soon would have caught fire for real. It wasn't a pleasant thing to wake up to at 4:00 AM.

 

By the time the firemen were called and arrived, the next car was fully ablaze and the third was getting scorched; before they could get the first two completely extinguished we all had to pitch in and tug ropes to drag them out. A few streets away the boys were seen, with their canister of petrol, just after having lit a car, they were chased but not caught.

[Tormod]

Well, best of luck to your daughter. Give us some updates (Will the school be ready for next school year?) occasionally.

 

It should be ready since no homerooms were ruined. But the school is cramped for space as it is so it's going to be a long winter, especially if the library is ruined.

 

Was it only partial, or destroyed?

 

From what I have been able to gather so far, about 50-60% of the building (it's a one-story building) was completely ruined but I have no idea yet what the impact on the rest of it was. :(

 

Do they know what their motives were?...(for instance - kids do tend to try out stuff) then it might have been a simple accident, a matter of 'boys will be boys', I guess.

 

No, I don't even think they have caught the perps yet, but eyewitnesses saw teenagers setting a trash can or something next to the building on fire. The school fire might be accidental but teenagers should be able to think about such things...

 

Makes no sense to burn the building, unless they hope it will postpone the start of school...

 

The best they could hope for by burning it would be to transfer to a different school that is faaaaar longer to travel to. :D

 

A few years back a couple of young vandals set fire to quite a few vehicles around town

 

:hihi: That's insane. In a *residential* area? That's asking for a murder charge IMHO...

[C1ay]

I'd love to know how these boys feel about this 10 or 20 years from now when they have their own children to send to school...

[Qfwfq]

The best they could hope for by burning it would be to transfer to a different school that is faaaaar longer to travel to. :hihi:

Yeah, that's what kids get for futile attempts toward some silly aim... :D

 

Certainly there was the risk of someone in my condo, in the apartment right above the cars, getting smoked unconscious before waking up. Some got mildly hurt stampeding down the stairways, which woke me up, and the last of us came down holding our breath in the thick smoke. The other vehicles were out in the streets and at that time of night the risk of passers by getting hurt was low, people just called the fire dept. when they saw the blazes.

[Buffy]

I'd love to know how these boys feel about this 10 or 20 years from now when they have their own children to send to school...

Somehow, I doubt they're going to care. Don't you wonder where all those absentee fathers come from?

 

Entitlement and a society that thinks "its own" are "more equal than others" will let you mentally survive a pile of bad karma...oh well...

 

That's bulls*&%. You're a white suburban punk just like me,

Buffy

[Tormod]

Somehow, I doubt they're going to care. Don't you wonder where all those absentee fathers come from?

 

:hihi:

 

Well how do you repo a school... :hyper:

[Buffy]

Well how do you repo a school... :hyper: :hihi:

Thank goodness for the new morality:

Good evening, Otto. This is Agent Rogersz. I'm going to ask you a few questions. Since time is short and you may lie, I'm going to have to torture you. But I want you to know, it isn't personal.

 

Let's go get sushi, and not pay,

Buffy

[Mercedes Benzene]

It's such a foreign (no pun intended) thought that a school could burn down, because here in the US, schools are basically fireproof. They are all made of cinderblock-ish things with a steel frame... without any wood structure at all.

The ceiling panels are also fire resistant.

 

Was your daughter's school made of wood?

[Tormod]

Was your daughter's school made of wood?

 

Yes, and thankfully most of it still is. :shade: I think it's mostly a result of it's small size.

 

It's a very nice school in that it is situated on a hilltop with in a residential area. It consists of 4 buildings with classrooms, a main administration building with a gym room, and the crafts building which also holds the school library. Compared to US schools it's probably very small, but our school days are much shorter (all after hours activities are done elsewhere).

 

I heard from Yvonne yesterday that the building fared better than what was feared at first, and apart from the water damages, the fire mostly ruined the roof in only a small area. It seems they will be able to fix it before schools starts again in six weeks...!

 

There has been no more mention of the perps so I still have no idea what the motive may have been. I really hope they find them so we don't have to worry about whether we have arsonists around the school area - but it seems more and more like a prank that could have gone really bad.

[Jay-qu]

Its really sad that there are idiots out there holding back society like this..

 

I was walking though the city the other day and there is a bridge here in melbourne that has pieces of glass, one for each country that participated in the commonwealth games, that has all the athletes names on it. It all looked really nice and swish until some git came along and smashed half of them! :shade:

 

It just bugs me that there is the pervading immaturity in our society that stops us from been able to have nice looking things without keeping them under surveillance!

[Qfwfq]

Yeah, as they used to say, the world is going to blazes. :shade: :hihi:

 

They are all made of cinderblock-ish things with a steel frame... without any wood structure at all.

The ceiling panels are also fire resistant.

Furniture too? Over here, almost all recent buildings are reinforced concrete, brick and mortar with no wooden structure except for choice of style. Use of wooden carpentry for floors and roofs is common in older buildings, say, early 20th century. To really be fireproof, you gotta be paranoid about furniture and fittings, even stuff that you just keep there. It sure ain't like old-style North American, British or Scandinavian residential areas here but fires can be dangerous anyway.

[DougF]

This saddens me when I hear of this, but this seems to be a growing problem.

 

Serious school arson fires surge

BBC NEWS | Education | Serious school arson fires surge

Arson attacks in England, Wales and Scotland are damaging or destroying an average of 20 schools each week.

 

 

Fires Reported At Two Schools - News Story - KFOX El Paso

School Fires The Work Of Arsonists - News - MSNBC.com

Tuesday, June 26, 2007 - Evidence from two school fires in El Paso suggest they are the work of an arsonist.

[InfiniteNow]

Furniture too? Over here, almost all recent buildings are reinforced concrete, brick and mortar with no wooden structure except for choice of style. Use of wooden carpentry for floors and roofs is common in older buildings, say, early 20th century. To really be fireproof, you gotta be paranoid about furniture and fittings, even stuff that you just keep there.

The floors are mostly tile on top of concrete, and the chairs and desks are molded plastic with metal legs. Very sterile. Most new schools they are building in my area of Texas look more like prisons. I am very serious.

 

 

Its really sad that there are idiots out there holding back society like this..

 

I was walking though the city the other day and there is a bridge here in melbourne that has pieces of glass, one for each country that participated in the commonwealth games, that has all the athletes names on it. It all looked really nice and swish until some git came along and smashed half of them! :(

 

It just bugs me that there is the pervading immaturity in our society that stops us from been able to have nice looking things without keeping them under surveillance!

 

Immaturity is definitely a factor, but I'd suggest it's more unconconscious anxieties which go without proper release or nurturing, and find random acts of angst as their outlet.

 

All kids break stuff, do stuff they shouldn't. Now, there are more kids doing it, and more societal anxiety in general.

 

If we give them the benefit of the doubt, sometimes it's just curiosity without experience that leads something relatively harmless into something much more "lasting."

[KatherineLee]

<removed>

 

 

And I would have to agree that most of the schools are basically fireproof; obviously there would be damage, but to completely destroy the whole school would be impossible.