Ooltewah High School Gym Catches Fire

A fire over the weekend at Ooltewah High School nearly destroys the new gym.   The fire happened Friday night when no one was there.

The gym's sprinkler system went off and put out the fire.   But it wasn't discovered until Saturday morning when some school teachers heard the alarm.  Because of that, the principal says the fire damage is minimal with only a small hole in a hallway.   But the floors he says are completely ruined from the water.

Principal Mike Bean would not let us in to look at the  damage saying the fire department was still investigating.  We talked to spokesperson Bruce Garner says, their investigation at the scene has been complete since Saturday.   Garner says it would have helped had the school's sprinkler system been monitored.

"It would certainly have been helpful if the system was monitored because the fire department can respond in minutes as opposed to many hours which was the situation here," says Chattanooga Fire Department spokesperson Bruce Garner.

"It could have been a lot worse that it is. Who knows what would have happened the fire could have gotten  completely out of control we are just fortunate the sprinkler worked," says Bean.

Principal Bean says summer volleyball and orientation scheduled in the gym, will move to the old building.  Investigators haven't figured out what caused the fire but are questioning workers that were sanding the floors earlier that evening.