KALISPELL – A broken pipe led to flooding that caused up to $250,000 in damage at Glacier High School earlier this winter, and it’s still not clear who will pay for the repairs and cleanup.
A frozen fire-suppression line burst on Feb. 26, pouring 3,500 gallons of water into the school in 15 minutes. The flooding damaged classrooms and offices, displacing students for about a month.
Superintendent Darlene Schottle tells the Daily Inter Lake that the architect that designed the building and an engineering firm found that insufficient insulation caused the pipe to freeze as temperatures dipped below zero.
The architects and engineers found similar insulation shortages in other parts of the building, which opened to students in the fall of 2007.