Dumped items raise questions
Kenai Peninsula Borough School District officials estimate between $200,000 and $400,000 worth of goods were damaged in a fire Thursday at the district warehouse.
Some area residents, however, are wondering just how much of the damage was real.
The fire, which was reported a little before 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the warehouse on Park Avenue across from Soldotna Elementary School, is believed to have been caused by the spontaneous combustion of linseed oil-soaked rags. Firefighters managed to save the structure itself, but its contents, including paper goods, computer equipment, food items and a truck, were reported damaged.
Assistant Superintendent Guy Fisher said Monday that representatives from various district departments visited the warehouse over the weekend to determine what items were salvageable and what should be thrown away.
"Different departments had things stored there," Fisher said. "We had people in each department going through and assessing (the damage)."
He said items that were not damaged were kept, while others were thrown out. Anything with questionable damage will wait for a decision by an official assessor, he said.
However, a Soldotna resident who was at the Soldotna Landfill on Saturday afternoon, said he found many items discarded by the district that appeared to be in good condition.
Raymond VinZant, who was at the dump to get rid of some building materials, said he came upon the discarded items and asked landfill staff to hold off on burying the goods until he could take some pictures. He said he went home, got camera and film and made some calls, bringing area officials to the landfill to witness the alleged waste.
In the meantime, he said he saw school district vehicles make at least 10 trips to the dump to discard warehouse goods.
"The only smoke damage was on the outside of the packages," he said. "The (plastic) wrap wasn't even broken."
Among the items VinZant found were cases of canned fruit and bottled juice that had no discoloration or warping.
Fisher said that while the food items may have appeared undamaged, federal law required they be thrown out because of the temperatures they were exposed to in the fire.
"There are guidelines on food products," Fisher said.
VinZant said he took some of the food home anyway. However, other items caused him even more concern.
He said he found several cases of computer mouses and keyboards that appeared to be in working order.
"There's a school Redoubt that's having a drive to raise funds to buy computers that they buried," VinZant said.
In addition, there were boxes of toilet paper that had broken open in transit to the dump but appeared to be in perfect condition.
Fisher said he was not present during the damage assessment but trusts his employees' judgment.
"If they said it was damaged, that's their decision," Fisher said. "Hopefully, they made good decisions. We don't have money to throw away things if we thought it could be used. We were trying not to be wasteful."
Waste is exactly what VinZant said he's concerned about.
"If I would have been in charge, I would ask the senior centers and food banks, but just to heap truckloads and throw them in the dump?" he asked.
"We just wasted $200,000 that could have been used."
Fisher said district employees kept an inventory of everything that was thrown out, and a final monetary figure will be determined by an assessor at a later date. Warehouse items are insured, though, with a $100,000 deductible, he said.