Fire-damaged campus nearly fell victim to recent blaze
MALIBU More than a week after the Canyon Fire set ablaze more than 4,500 acres and shook an entire community, Webster Elementary School reopened on Monday, a calming sign for these students that normalcy would return to their lives.
The small K-5 primary school with an enrollment of approximately 380 students was the only public school campus in Malibu that sustained damage in the blaze.
It was like any other Monday morning back in the classroom after a typical weekend — the students sat in their assigned desks and the teachers carried on instruction as usual, hoping to get their pupils back into their regular routine after the traumatic events of the previous week.
But throughout the small K-5 primary school were signs of the trauma caused by a blaze that forced more than 1,500 residents out of their homes. In room number 7, the ceiling of Stacy Harris’ second grade classroom is charred and gutted and carries the stench of days old smoke. In the library, a slight film of ash covered a row of computers on the ground. The computers were removed from the adjacent lab in order to protect the students from the ceiling that also sustained damage.
The biggest reminder of the blaze could be seen outside where just a stone’s throw away was once a Presbyterian Church, now gone, and where a small company once sold glass behind the school, also destroyed.
“Everyone is reminded of how much the schools means to them and what a tragedy it would’ve been to lose it,” said Principal Phil Cott on Monday.
Altogether, the campus, sandwiched in the hills of Malibu, lost two storage sheds as well as use of two classrooms temporarily, one to smoke and another to structural damages. One of the two classes was shut down on Monday because the air quality was deemed unhealthy. The other — the second grade classroom — needs some work done on its roof and roof supports, according to Superintendent Dianne Talarico.
A cost estimate on repairs was not available, nor was an idea of how long it would take for the two classrooms to reopen.
Despite the damage, parents were grateful that the school managed to survive, escaping with a few scars.
“I think the kids are so resilient,” said Nancy Little as she picked up her third grade daughter from class on Monday afternoon. “They get to come back to something familiar.
Little and her family are members of the Malibu Presbyterian Church that was destroyed. For her daughter to see the Webster Elementary School up and running is a comforting sight, knowing that not everything close to her was lost, Little said.
To lessen the shock of seeing the school for the first time, Rey Cano drove his daughter, who is in the second grade, to the school a few days after the fire.
More than 30 parents pitched in to help clean part of the campus on Sunday, removing the remaining charred shrubbery so the children would not be confronted with the evidence of the fire, said Dorothy Reinhold, the PTA co-president for Webster.
“There was a lot of sweat equity that went into the school yesterday,” Reinhold said.
Administrators also made it a point to get the students back into their normal routine. Before school reconvened at its normal hour on Monday, school and district officials met with teachers to discuss what they should expect from their students emotionally.
“We need to be cognizant of the fact that kids all went through something unusual and stressful and pay attention to that and make sure kids know it’s safe here,” Cott said.“At the same time, we wanted to get the kids in their regular routine as much as possible.”
Counseling was available for the students who appeared to be distressed.
Diane Hines, an art instructor at Webster, said the students seemed to be in good spirits, anxious about the fact that Halloween was just two days away. The teachers avoided discussing the fire and if the students brought up the topic, the adults would try to steer the conversation to focus on the silver lining, such as how wonderful it was for the fire-fighters to save the school or how a more than 100-year-old fig tree on campus survived, Hines said.
“We don’t want to minimize (the fire), but what we want to say is that when... you’re at school, you’re safe,” Hines said.
The Canyon Fire started early on the morning of Oct. 21. Officials believe the blaze was caused by a downed power line. The fire ended up destroying six homes, one church and one commercial trailer and damaging nine homes and five businesses. One Webster family lost a home they were renting in the fire and a fundraising drive for the family is expected to commence soon.
The fire shut down Malibu High School, Juan Cabrillo Elementary School and Point Dume Marine Science School on Monday and Tuesday of last week. Those schools reopened last Wednesday while Webster remained closed throughout the week. The Public Schools Week, which was set to showcase all of the campuses in the Santa Monica- Malibu Unified School District next week, was postponed to the week of Dec. 3.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 30, 2007. Read the original PDF.