News
October 22, 2010
Page 7• The Mirada
Smoke clears after 10 years On Nov. 2, 2010 a decade will have passed since the fire that destroyed the Little Theater, a chilling event that haunts the campus and remains the school’s finest horror story By Sarah Vaira and Peter Hammon
What Happened Nov. 2, 2000, started off as any other Thursday for the theater department. Drama teacher Betty Miller and her fourth period Readers Theater students were busy rehearsing for the upcoming performance of “Grease” when the unexpected happened. Miller and junior Keith Pasko, walked into the green room, a place where costumes and props are kept, only to discover a box in flames on top of a cabinet. Immediately Miller and Pasko raced to the office looking for a fire extinguisher but by the time they made it back to the dressing room the flames were out of control and billowing out the door. “You could see the smoke running to the ceiling and everything was burning,” Pasko said in a 2000 interview with the Tesoro, “There was no way a fire extinguisher would do the job.” After attempting to put the fire out, Miller ran into the theater and evacuated her students. The fire alarm sounded minutes before the lunch bell and most students, confused by the nearness to lunch, began heading to the food carts instead of the parking lot or sports fields. Despite the confusion all students were evacuated safely. The alarm alerted Principal Rob Hollingsworth, but there was nothing he could do. “By the time I got there the flames were shooting out of the doorway,” Hollingsworth, who retired in 2009, said in an interview Tuesday. Firefighters responded quickly but by the time the flames were put out was too late for the theater, green room, counseling office and some CD wing classrooms. The fire left the buildings charred, severely smoke and water damaged. “It was the most heart wrenching thing that ever happened to me in my 38 year career, all of us standing out there just watching it burn down,” Miller, who has also retired, said.
The Cause The next Monday, a sophomore student admitted he had started the fire. According to police reports, the 15-year-old said he was setting strips of paper on fire in the green room, but when he heard someone nearby, he threw the lit papers
photos by ben kelton, 2000-2001 tesoro
After the flames were put out, fireman section off of the C wing for later investigation. Fireman survey the damage from above former teacher Mr. St. John’s room. While significant damage was done to the theater, classrooms in the CD wing were burnt as well.
into a box on top of a cabinet and left the room. Deputy District Attorney Rick Yenovkian said the boy set the fire to set off an alarm so he would be able to get out of class 10 minutes early to smoke marijuana. The box caught the cabinet on fire and spread to the rest of the room and theater. “He was always the type of kid you had to keep your eye on,” Miller said. The student was expelled, placed on house arrest, and in August 2001 sentenced to county Boys Ranch by a Sacramento Superior Court judge who called him “a spoiled little golden boy.” He served four months, and a year later we was ordered by a Juvenile Court judge to pay $2 million in restitution. The estimated $2.5 million fire remains the most expensive act of vandalism in the history of San Juan Unified School District. The fire also caused emotional harm and disrupted classes. “Being in the classroom is so different [for students] than being in the theater,” Miller said. “This was their home.”
The Impact At the time of the fire, the opening night of the Readers Theater production of “Grease” was only one week away. It appeared the show was going to be cancelled until the Dante Club volunteered the
dated. New lighting and sound systems were added along with soundproofing in the walls, audience seating and a front lobby. Miller was also given the chance to dictate much of the design of the theater, even drawing out cabinets herself. “I was very grateful because Rob Hollingsworth involved me in everything with the rebuild,” Miller said. “He was very, very supportive.” However, she added, “I never would have traded new things for the fire. It was just too devastating.” use of their facilities. The best was made of a bad situation and the show was turned into a dinner fundraiser for the theater. Over 500 people attended the performance and showed their support for the drama program. “It made the kids feel a little better that people felt sorry for the fact that we had lost the theater,” Miller said. The following weeks after the fire, CD wing classes met in the gym, outside and in portables due to asbestos risks and smoke and water damage. Two weeks later the asbestos was cleared and classes were able to move back. As for the drama and counseling departments, it took two years to return the buildings to working order and they were forced
to continue meeting in the portables. Readers Theater and drama productions were performed in the cafeteria. “It was so hard to cope with the loss and for two years without it,” Miller said.
The Rebuild After the investigation and assessment everything in the building was dragged out and placed in storage containers. Then the entire building was stripped down to the frame and the rebuilding process began. At the time of the rebuild, the campus was undergoing “modernization.” Because the school was already being renovated, the theater was not only rebuilt, but also up-
The Legacy Not only does this fire remain the most expensive act of vandalism in the district, Hollingsworth said it was also one of the only school fires that has occurred while students were present. Also, the real evacuation experience helped shape current evacuation policies. Now we know “Don’t march students through smoke,” Hollingsworth said. The new theater that stands today is named the Betty Miller Theater and her daughter, current drama teacher Jessie Miller, directed a Readers Theater performance of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” that was performed this week. Although the physical remnants of this tragedy are gone, the memory continues to burn.