Show It Ita a Ii to r Id 1 1 I f 5 fi h t i Si Siu u RUINED LIGHTS buckled heating ducts and steel beams are all that remain of the biology room ceiling at the high school Firemen were working in deep ankle water and debris Some of the charred wreckage can be seek on the floor Staff photo Inferno Ravages UHS South Wing One of the bIggest fires ever seen in this area broke out Fri day about 6 pm in the south wing of Uintah High School causing damage that is ted to reach a quarter of a mil lion dollars Five Five classrooms and their contents suffered heavy damage and lesser damage also was caused to fIve additional class rooms rooms the bookstore library and administrative offices all located In the south wing ALTHOUGH the exact cause of the fire was not ascertained it was sp speculated that a motor In a refrigerator in the biology room had overheated or short short- circuited In addition to the badly dam eged south wing there was wa wa- wa water tel ter damage to other areas and extensive damage to most of the building where the heating system system tem had sucked in the smoke and spread it The new wing opened this year suffered some smoke and water damage VERNAL VOLUNTEER Fire Department fought the blaze un I til ml night when it was brought under control I Dense smoke blanketed the scene and spread throughout the valley In three classrooms and the hall the ceilings fell in The In tense heat in the biology room blew the windoWs windoW's into the hall ball balland halland and flames leaped about 20 feet into the air from the roof The combined weight of the structure ture and the heat buckled heavy steel beams FIREMEN WITH gas masks tried to walk through the south door but the intense heat drove them back A short time later Capt Floyd E Workman and andO O 0 J Barnett of the Fire Depart Depart- Department ment and John L Blazzard vice principal climbed through the west windoWs windoW's again with gas masks and were able to stay a hour half the time limit of of the masks mask's protection and guide hoses to the heart of the fire Firemen also chopped their way through the roof An airboat and exhaust fan was set up to control the smoke ASSISTING firemen were Hal Hal- Halliburton trucks and all local law enforcement agencies and Continued on page 5 f t rj 55 r r t t iLi LEFT TO RIGHT Morris R Cook county clerk Kay R Ben Ben- county agent and John Evans advertising executive choose color pictures that will be shown at a new exhibit for Uintah Duchesne Duchene and Daggett counties that Is being erected In Inthe inthe the State Capitol Staff photo r mr y ti tit tir r t iii ti 4 t y THE BIOLOGY ROOM was the heart of the inferno that swept Uintah High School Friday night causing an estimated III damage and closing the school for three days Staff photo Inferno Continued from page 1 many volunteers Damage to equipment such as microscopes and other scientific instruments in the biology lab lab- laboratory oratory was heavy Out of books in the U li were rated a total loss The rest will be sent to Salt Lake City for cleaning and rebinding Water damage was caused to students lockers and contents in the hall About an hour after the fire fire- firemen men arrived it looked as though the fire was coming under con can control but the flames wen w e n t through the ceiling and set the thee e east st classrooms on fire AS THE FIRE died down fire fighters were sloshing through ugh deep ankle water The nearest students in the building were in the auditorium where they were preparing to present a play the same even ing Normally the school houses about students Fire Department officials reported ported that Aron Thedell a high school teacher was working in the faculty room grading pa pa- pa papers pers when he smelled smoke Then a youth came in to report he had heard glass breaking and when they went into the hall they saw flames and smoke pouring into the building SATURDAY SATURDAY morning Supt Glen C and Principal Leland G Rex took partial in of the damage and made plans for alternate ac ac- ac for students who had worked in the ten class class- classrooms rooms that were rendered un unusable usable |