On Wednesday, September 29, there was a fire on top of Richland Northeast High School (RNE) that is believed to have started around 7:30am. This made local news outlets such as WIS  and WLTX  When teachers started to arrive around 8:00am, they were astonished at the sight of fire trucks and the sound of the fire alarms, while the local fire department extinguished the issue. 

Once students started to arrive at RNE around 8:45, everyone was allowed in the building. After the situation was evaluated, it was determined the fire occurred from the construction going on the H-vac systems above the Culinary Arts room in the E building. 

Throughout the school day, classrooms on the Culinary Arts side of the first floor of E Hall were relocated to the Media Center, so students and staff stayed safe during the day. After the fire was extinguished principal Mark Sims gave a statement through both email and voicemail. 

“This is Richland Northeast High School Principal Mark Sims. I’m emailing to share some information with you. You may have seen a news story about a fire on campus today. First, I want to reassure you that no students or staff were injured or in danger. The fire was on the roof of a building and related to construction work occurring there. It did cause some damage to the culinary arts classroom. Alternative plans have been made for those impacted students. The rest of the school is operating on a regular schedule. I wanted to reach out to you to make sure you had the most accurate information and to reassure you that the safety of our students and staff will continue to be our No. 1 priority. As always, thank you for your continued support and dedication to Richland Northeast High School.”