Three teenagers were arrested and charged in connection with an arson fire set by intruders in the Minnetonka (Minn.) High School Media Center the night of March 2. The fire caused more than $500,000 in damage, according to the March 5 Minneapolis Star Tribune. Although the fire did not spread to other parts of the building and was quickly extinguished by the school’s sprinkler system, water and smoke harmed the library’s stacks, about 26 computers, many cloth-covered chairs, and the center’s floors and walls.
“It’s brand new, so it’s real sad,” said Glenn Skoy, the school’s media specialist, of the state-of-the-art center, which opened in fall 1998. Cleaning crews began drying books and carpets the day after the fire to head off mold. Associate Principal Joyce Rief told American Libraries that all books, magazines, and other stack materials have been sent out for cleaning, carpets and ceiling tiles will be replaced, and all the furniture will need to be cleaned.
Two of the teenagers are former Minnetonka students. According to statements by one of them, the three had been at a house party earlier in the evening, where they made plans to damage the school. They bought two cans of gasoline at a local station, then broke a window in the door to the media center, dipped a T-shirt into a can, ignited it, and threw it into the school. The boy then called 911 and police tracked the suspects by tracing the call.
While repairs are being made, school officials said they will send students to the school’s other computer lab, and arrangements have been made with local libraries to serve students’ research needs.
Posted March 11, 2002.