Spring Valley Academy rebounds from fire devastation

Ron Alvey The photo of the graduating class of 1976 at Spring Valley Academy was damaged in the fire at the school. Staff file photo by Ron Alvey

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Spring Valley Academy board of trustees member Wayne Whitmill stands in a school room that was damaged by a fire in September. Staff photo by Jim Noelker

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Fire damage is scene in a hall way near a utility room at Spring Valley Academy in Washington Twp. Tuesday Sept. 9. The fire started about 7 p.m. Monday, Sept. 8. Staff file photo by Lisa Powell.

Lisa Powell/Staff photographer Fire damage is scene in a hall way near a utility room at Spring Valley Academy in Washington Twp. Tuesday Sept. 9. The fire started about 7 p.m. Monday, Sept. 8. Staff file photo by Lisa Powell.

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By Kyle Nagel, Staff Writer Updated 12:08 AM Monday, April 13, 2009

The evening exercise class meeting at Spring Valley Academy was the first to notice a burning odor.

One of the participants was the wife of the school’s maintenance director, and she thought it strange when no fire crews immediately responded to the alarm.

It was about 7 p.m. Sept. 8, 2008, a day that would begin to reaffirm a community’s faith in itself and the power of restoration.

In the main utility room, just inside the main entrance of the school on East Spring Valley Pike, the growing fire had already fried circuits that would relay a call to the fire department.

Maintenance Director Steve Erickson opened the door to read a circuit panel, but got a face full of thick black smoke instead.

The few people in the building — the exercise class, the drama club and a few teachers — got out safely. Many watched from the lawn while firefighters from four municipalities moved through the building, breaking windows to search classrooms.

What began that evening as black smoke pouring from academy doorways, and ended in several million dollars worth of damage, has turned into a tale of crisis management at its finest, said many involved in the continuing rehabilitation of the K-12 school run by the Seventh-day Adventist Church.

“To be honest,” said Harvey Hahn, whose son, Joshua, is a third-grader, “since the structure was intact, everyone had a really naive idea that we would be back in school in a couple weeks.”

The school plans to reopen late this summer.

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