Reiter: The Aftermath

From the BCCT.

Uh huh. Anyone remember the story about the barn door and the missing horse?

While there are a lot of good people who work for the borough and the school district who do the right thing day in and day out, try to imagine what this investigation would be looking like if pictures of a small white casket were accompanying the story rather than workers repairing broken glass and twisted aluminum.



Students reassigned; blast investigated
Morrisville’s mayor said Monday night that the borough will not allow M.R. Reiter to reopen until “our engineer tells us that the building is absolutely safe.”
By RACHEL CANELLI and DANNY ADLER

There’s once again no school today for M.R. Reiter Elementary School students, following a weekend furnace explosion that’s still under investigation, officials said Monday.

Administrators said pupils are expected to return to class Wednesday, when more than 250 children will temporarily report to the following facilities: pre-kindergartners to the Morrisville YMCA on Pennsylvania Avenue; kindergartners to Grandview Elementary School on Grandview Avenue; and first- and second-graders to Morrisville Middle/Senior High School on West Palmer Street.

Officials said they’ll hold an open house tonight at the Middle/Senior High to show Reiter parents where their children will be learning until the winter break, which starts Dec. 24.

Superintendent Elizabeth Yonson said she wants to ensure parents of elementary school kids that the younger children, who will arrive and depart after the teens, will be isolated from the older students and have their own bathrooms, eating area and gym area.

Meanwhile, after a recommendation from air quality testers Environmental Connections, Remediation Specialists Inc. spent Monday cleaning teachers’ books and other materials at Reiter, said Yonson. Although the explosion was contained to the furnace room, a thin layer of residue filtered through the heating vents and into other areas, including classrooms, Yonson said.

“We don’t believe there’s any hazardous material,” Yonson said. “We’re just being on the safe side.”

A preliminary investigation into the blast found that a new pump installed Friday didn’t cause the explosion, which will close the Morrisville school until at least Jan. 5 so it can be cleaned and is deemed safe, administrators said Monday afternoon.

Fire Marshal Robert Seward said the blast may have occurred because a malfunctioning part was allowing too much fuel into the furnace’s firebox. Officials are waiting for insurance company investigators before dismantling the furnace in search of a cause to Saturday’s explosion. That should happen within the next few days, officials said.

Officials said the furnace is decades old. “This is something, unfortunately, we’ve had problems with over the years,” the fire marshal said.

School district facilities director Tim Lastichen warned: “It will explode again if we let it run.”

Following several troublesome days with the furnace, the blast blew out the furnace room windows and spread soot throughout the building. An odor of oil started spreading through the school Wednesday afternoon. The smell returned Thursday morning and students were sent home. The school was closed Friday, so a new pump could be installed.

Lastichen said at an emergency meeting Sunday night that the new pump was putting out fuel at a higher pressure than the faulty pump it replaced. That may have contributed to the blast, he said.

On Monday, Lastichen said officials inspected the furnace after the new pump was installed.

“When we replaced the pump, it was working well for two days,” he said. When he went to check on the heater Saturday morning, he said, “Everything was fine.”

Lastichen said engineers are expected to report to the school district today on what repairs are needed at Reiter, including a cost estimate for a new heating system. It will be up to the school board to decide whether it wants to replace the system or “Band-Aid” this one, he said.

“It’s had many Band-Aids,” Lastichen said of the furnace.

At Monday night’s borough council meeting, Mayor Thomas Wisnosky signaled that the borough will decide when the school can reopen.

Ordinarily, school facilities are handled separately from the borough because they are two individual authorities, “however, this is a different situation,” the mayor said.

“This is an emergency situation. We have a school building that, well, it had an explosion, there’s significant damage, and that changes the rules dramatically for the Borough of Morrisville,” he said. Under borough code, Wisnosky said, the borough is “required” to inspect with its own engineer. The borough engineer is expected to be at the site this afternoon.

“The Borough of Morrisville will not allow that school to reopen until our engineer tells us that that building is absolutely safe for children no matter what,” Wisnosky said. “We have the authority, according to the code and according to our ordinance, to keep that building closed until such time that we are satisfied. We are in charge of public safety.”