Gilroy
– Police are looking for a student they suspect started an
afternoon fire in a bathroom at the high school.
By Christopher Quirk Staff Writer
Gilroy – Police are looking for a student they suspect started an afternoon fire in a bathroom at the high school.
Julio Perales, Gilroy High School campus supervisor, was the first to notice smoke and flames coming from a men’s room housed in a portable on the west side of the gymnasium.
At 2:37 p.m., Perales notified Rita Quintero in the discipline office, who in turn notified police and the fire department.
When the fire department arrived on scene, there were no more flames, in part thanks to Perales and Teofilo Delgoado, head custodian, who used fire extinguishers to douse the blaze. Still, the men’s room was filled with smoke, water covered the floor from a damaged sink and a tornado-shaped dark stain covered the wall above the sinks. At the epicenter of the blaze was a heap of melted plastic that several passing students speculated to be a paper towel dispenser.
“Seeing as there’s nothing that could accidentally start that,” said Gilroy Fire Department Division Chief of Field Operations Ed Bozzo, “I’d say it was intentional.”
There was no apparent damage to the adjacent women’s room.
“From what I hear, it would not need to be replaced,” said Steve Brinkman, assistant superintendent of the GUSD, but would likely cost a few thousand dollars.
The district will pay the first $1,000 as part of its deductible while the insurance company covers the rest.
Still, Brinkman said, “If we have enough of these, our premiums will go up.”
The arson is the first on school grounds since a student set fire to two portables at Antonio del Buono Elementary School on July 4, 2006, costing the GUSD $51,000.
“It’s one of the worst things a student could do,” said Mani Corzo, dean of students at GHS, of the arson. If they catch the student, he said, “There’s no doubt about it. He would be expelled.”
Video surveillance, however, turned up no evidence of the perpetrator. The camera that also monitors the bathroom by the gym was aimed at the track during the crime.
The camera system was installed two years ago.
Despite its recent failure, GHS Assistant Principal Greg Comacho-Light said, “It’s well worth every penny. I almost wonder what we did without it before we had it.”
The police said they will continue to investigate the case.
Christopher Quirk covers education for the Dispatch. Contact him at 427-7240 or cq****@************ch.com.
