A malfunction in a fire suppression sprinkler system inside the Blacksburg High ninth grade addition has proven quite costly for a school district insurance carrier.

An insurance company for a Blacksburg High ninth grade subcontractor has paid out $75,000 for repairs to classrooms damaged when a sprinkler system activated in an empty second story classroom in November.

The ninth grade addition opened in March as part of the district's $35 million school building program completed last summer. All new school projects are under a one-year warranty with the building contractors.

The current amount paid by the district's insurance carrier does not include the cost of replacing computers and electrical equipment damaged at Blacksburg High, maintenance director John Burchstead said. The district has submitted a list of electronics and computer items that need to be replaced in the school's ninth grade addition.

Burchstead said he was unsure on the status of the district's efforts to replace the computers. The maintenance director did say work has been completed on repairing the water-damaged areas of the Blacksburg High ninth grade addition.

"The insurance company has done a lot of things to the sprinkler system that will help us down the road," Burchstead said. "They brought in a service protection team to check out the duct work and take air samples to check for any air quality issues. New dehumidifiers and fans have been placed in the building."

The district maintenance department returned to work this week in preparation for the return of students Jan. 5. Blacksburg High is among the 18 county schools that maintenance workers will visit to address any maintenance issues before the spring semester begins.

An extensive cleanup effort by custodians and district maintenance workers allowed Blacksburg High to re-open the ninth grade addition without missing class time from the Nov. 3 incident.

Burchstead said the district remains uncertain what caused the sprinkler system to malfunction.

A review of security cameras showed no students and teachers were in the classroom during the last couple of hours of the school day. Teachers were involved in parent conferences at 4 p.m. when the sprinkler system activated.

The Blacksburg High sprinkler system was running for 30 minutes until the district's maintenance department was able to arrive and shut it down. Burchstead said the district has trained school staff to be able to shut down the sprinkler system to help prevent a repeat occurrence.

"The sprinkler system went off for no reason," Burchstead said. "What I suspect happened is there's a glass vial inside the sprinkler head that acts as a thermometer. I think the glass vial reached a certain temperature and burst, causing the sprinkler system to turn on."