The stage at the Cugnet Centre recently experienced some water damage, and as a result, the Weyburn Comprehensive School's (WCS) Senior Musical The Wedding Singer has been postponed until further notice.

On the evening of Thursday, May 18th, WCS drama students were rehearsing at the Cugnet Centre, and Andy Dobson, Manager of Facilities and Transportation for South East Cornerstone Public School Division, explained they were using theatrical smoke on the stage.

"We believe it triggered one of our sensors. The Fire Department was dispatched. They put more smoke in on the stage and it triggered two sensors simultaneously. Our deluge fire suppression system triggered that system and that is a wall of water that separates. In the event of a fire, you would have a wall of water separating the stage and all the people on the stage, and all the people in the audience."

Dobson said luckily they had some of their staff available to turn the system off, so it prevented quite a bit of water damage compared to what it could have been. 

"So water damage certainly on the wooden floor in the Cugnet Centre, the stage suffered damage also, curtains were soaked and water kind of went down through the conduit and the electrical system and down into the basement."

Dobson explained that right now they have an insurance claim, and they are assessing the damages at this time. 

"We've had our electricians go through and they've done an all clear on some electrical systems, that's what we're really worried about ... But the big cost is the wooden floor in the Cugnet Centre. We had Megadry, they've had dehumidifiers in there and there is a little bit of cupping on the floor. If that has to be replaced, that's a fairly big ticket item, likely $125,000."

Dobson explained that the Comp has used the smoke before, so they aren't quite sure why the deluge fire suppression system was triggered.

"Just in talking to the school administration at the Comp, they said they've used it the last five or six years. I don't know if there was more smoke than normal, we just don't know at this time. We're doing an investigation; maybe the sensors malfunctioned."

He said they are going through some of the stage lights and items right now that would be a part of their production, and drying out the curtains.

"This deluge system is right at the edge of the stage, because it's basically a curtain wall. The curtains right there that are further at the front, they were totally soaked so we had to take them down and dry them out, they were still dripping as we cleaned up."

Dobson added that it was unfortunate, and thankfully the Weyburn Fire Department was able to help them clean up the water as quickly as they did. 

"It wasn't laying on the floor for very long, so it likely saved lots of our gym floor. They had the dehumidifiers going on in there right throughout the long weekend, and some of that cupping has flattened out. Hopefully the damages aren't as bad as we think."

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