School fire's cause remains unknown
By STEPHEN GURR
The Times
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Hidden Lake Academy is northwest of Dahlonega on Wahsega Road.
State fire officials said Wednesday they may never be able to determine what caused a fire at a private school in Lumpkin County that resulted in an estimated $1.5 million in damage last week.
Officials with Hidden Lake Academy, an exclusive boarding school for teens with behavioral problems, declined to comment on the blaze that destroyed a two-story, 15,000-square foot academic building in the early morning hours.
Kathleen Heasley, Hidden Lake Academy's director of development and communications, said through a school secretary that there would be no comments to the news media about the fire.
Lumpkin County Fire Chief Edward Eggert said investigators with State Insurance and Safety Fire Commissioner John Oxendine's office continued to sift through the rubble for clues as recently as Tuesday.
The investigation focused on a ground-level office in the building, which housed as many as 20 classrooms, Eggert said.
"On our arrival, that was the area with the most flames and damage," Eggert said.
The fire, reported by a 911 call at about 2 a.m., destroyed the building by mid-Friday morning. Students housed in male and female dormitories were on campus at the time of the fire, Eggert said. Graduation ceremonies were scheduled for the following day.
Eggert said he was told by school officials that the building was constructed in 1992.
A newer, $3.5 million administration building adjacent to the academic building was spared by a firewall and the efforts of firefighters, Eggert said.
Glenn Allen, a spokesman for Oxendine's office, said investigators were unable to determine an exact cause of the blaze because any clues as to how it started were destroyed in the fire.
"It looks like (the cause is) going to be ruled undetermined because of the damage," Allen said.
Eggert said an electrical cause could not be ruled out.
Allen said there was no suspicion by his office that the fire was purposely set, but anyone with information about the fire could contact the state's arson hotline and receive a reward of up to $10,000.
Hidden Lake Academy, located northwest of Dahlonega off Wahsega Road, advertises itself as a highly structured school offering both academics and group therapy for its students, most of whom "struggle with issues of Oppositional Defiant Disorder," according to its Web site.
The 15- to 18-month program requires a tuition of $6,000 per month, according to the academy's Web site.
Contact:
[email protected], (770) 718-3428.
Originally published Thursday, May 31, 2007
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