{"id":317275,"date":"2020-02-11T06:05:51","date_gmt":"2020-02-10T20:05:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/?p=317275"},"modified":"2020-02-11T06:05:51","modified_gmt":"2020-02-10T20:05:51","slug":"hopwood-fire-possible-arson","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/hopwood-fire-possible-arson\/","title":{"rendered":"Hopwood fire possible arson"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services units surround Building B of the old Hopwood Middle School campus. (KIMBERLY BAUTISTA)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

A fire that engulfed multiple classrooms at the old Hopwood Middle School campus yesterday is believed to have been started deliberately, but the Department of Fire and Emergency Medical Services is still investigating the case to confirm that.<\/p>\n

According to Hopwood principal Dr. Rizalina Liwag, she learned after speaking with DFEMS investigators that they believe that the fire that they extinguished at Hopwood\u2019s Building B could have been intentionally set. <\/p>\n

\u201cSo [DFEMS] believes that this is not just an ordinary fire and was probably triggered naturally. They believe that this was some kind of arson and that somebody is responsible for doing this,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

After hearing that from DFEMS investigators, Liwag now plans to prioritize security for the campus, especially since repairs are underway soon. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis was something that we need to really prioritize. We\u2019re in the process of completing and turning in our purchase order to start the repair of the campus,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Liwag added that she, as principal, is saddened that someone would even consider committing such a crime. <\/p>\n

\u201cIts just so sad. We already have so many challenges and struggles with our temporary campus and then now I have to also oversee the old campus to make sure that it is safe and intact. We feel that we really need to take action sooner rather than later to ensure that the buildings are safe and this will not happen again,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Liwag said that she was called to the damaged Hopwood campus at about 4:15pm because of a report of a fire. <\/p>\n

\u201cI received a call that there were police officers and fire department over at the campus, stating that the campus was on fire, particularly our Building B. The call police received was from a concerned citizen,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Liwag explained that DFEMS first informed her that there was a bush fire behind Hopwood\u2019s stage but further investigation led firefighters to the fire within Building B. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a bush fire first behind the stage area. And then when fire department came, they found out that it was not just a bush fire behind the stage but there was also a fire inside the building,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

DFEMS has yet to release an official statement on the incident. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A fire that engulfed multiple classrooms at the old Hopwood Middle School campus yesterday is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[94],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-317275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-headlines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=317275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/317275\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=317275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=317275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=317275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}