x
Breaking News
More () »

Classes canceled Friday at Johnson High School following small fire

The fire, which occurred Thursday morning, was contained to the laundry room located in the school's athletic wing.

BUDA, Texas — Classes are canceled Friday at Hays CISD's Johnson High School following a small fire on the campus Thursday morning.

The district said the fire occurred at approximately 10 a.m. on Thursday and the building was quickly and safely evacuated. The investigation into the fire's cause is still underway, but it appears to have started in a clothes dryer in the athletic wing laundry room. 

Hays CISD said the fire was contained in the laundry room, but heavy smoke permeated throughout much of the building and the fire sprinkler system in the athletic wing was activated, leaving a large amount of water to clean up.

Hays CISD said the Buda Fire Department assisted with the fire. During the evacuation and subsequent early release on Thursday, Johnson High School parents were informed via email, text, the district's app and a phone call using the district's automated parent alert system.

Later Thursday afternoon, the district said it would need an extra day to recover from the fire so classes would be canceled Friday to allow crews to continue to vent out smoke and odor, clean up water and reset and retest the master fire alarm system. 

Hays CISD said that the fire suppression sprinklers worked as intended, but Johnson had to use the campus public address system to order the evacuation because the automatic audible warning alarm on the fire suppression system did not engage as it was supposed to. 

"Earlier in the week, the campus experienced several false alarms with the automatic audible warning system. The alarm company made repairs, but there was clearly an issue again with that part of the system on Thursday morning," said Tim Savoy, chief communication officer for Hays CISD. "The district, in concert with campus leadership, believes it’s best to keep the building closed Friday so that we can do what we need to do to make sure everything is cleaned up and working properly before students and teachers return to the building."

Hays CISD said classes will resume at Johnson on Monday, and the district has enough banked instructional minutes for the year so that students will not have to make up the missed days.

The Johnson campus was open on Friday from 8:30 a.m. until 10:30 a.m. for anyone to enter the building to retrieve critical personal belongings that they left behind during the evacuation. Staff was also able to help individuals retrieve their property during that time.

Johnson asked those who can wait until Monday to retrieve their things to do so. The campus will be secured through the weekend.

KVUE on social media: Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube

Britny Eubank on social media: Twitter

PEOPLE ARE ALSO READING:

Austin is the city in Texas with the most million-dollar homes

230,000 square-foot facility coming to Georgetown

Austin teen fatally shoots motorcyclist who almost ran over his dog, police say

17-year-old Laci hopes to get adopted before she ages out of the Texas foster care system

Before You Leave, Check This Out