Fire Destroys Office, Damages Gym of Whiteville Elementary
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WHITEVILLE, Tenn — Whiteville Elementary basketball coach, Dennis Bills, looked at what was left of his office, destroyed by an early morning fire. “When I saw it, I was blown away,” Bills said. “I was thinking of all the uniforms and equipment in the coach’s office.” According to investigators, the fire started Wednesday around 2 a.m. in the school gym where Coach Bill’s office is located. The gym suffered little damage, but the office and thousand of dollars of uniforms and gym equipment were all burned in the fire. Although the cause of the fire is still under investigation, school officials believe it was electrical and an amplifier was plugged into a faulty wire. Local fire and state officials spent the day investigating, but school was in session on Wednesday. “I’m glad it didn’t happen when the kids were here because we would have to deal with evacuations and things of that nature,” Coach Bills said. “I just thank God there were no children here and it wasn’t as bad as it could have been,” Jimmie Ruth Douglass, a teacher at the school added. Principal Cedric Crisp said students should be allowed back in the gym by the end of the week, but he’s not sure how long it will take to replace the uniforms and sports equipment. Investigators said they don’t believe it was arson but are still investigating the cause.
