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Playground burns again at Woodville Elementary

From Ned Oliver at the Times-Dispatch:

Interim Superintendent Tommy Kranz confirmed that children were suspected as perpetrators. He said the fire caused at least $75,000 in damage and that there was no way the playground could be repaired and reopened before school starts next month.

Another year, another playground fire: The Woodville ES playground was previously set ablaze in 2012 and in 2014 . The George Mason ES playground burned in 2009 and in 2015. The Fairfield ES playground burned in 2010 and in 2014.

15 comments

JessOfRVA 08/10/2017 at 8:50 AM

This has got to stop.

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Holly 08/10/2017 at 9:20 AM

Why 🙁

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Dubois2 08/10/2017 at 12:53 PM

Reality check time. $225,000 in, I’d call an end to installing plastic or wood elements at that location.
Full metal playground. Because yes, sometimes and some places we can’t have nice things.

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crd 08/10/2017 at 1:53 PM

@3 I understand what you are saying, but I’m not sure one can even purchase all metal playgrounds anymore. Safety issues for the kids playing there. Do some research and prove me wrong, please.

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John Eisenberg 08/10/2017 at 12:55 PM

This is why we can’t have nice things

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Cadeho 08/10/2017 at 8:08 PM

In my day, playgrounds were metal…

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DontMinceWords 08/10/2017 at 9:07 PM

@6 right? No seatbelts. No bike helmets. And we walked to school uphill both ways. It’s not about kid safety. It’s about liability.

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Sean Stilwell 08/10/2017 at 10:13 PM

They charge Richmond $75,000 to fix that playground? I’m in the wrong business.

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Eric S. Huffstutler 08/10/2017 at 10:17 PM

@6 Cadeho, when I read this topic and clicked on it, your comment was the first I saw and are my sentiments exactly. Metal doesn’t burn so, why haven’t they learned?

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mary 08/11/2017 at 4:24 PM

A quote from local media about this fire stated that when the flames hit the plastic the fire just took off.
There’s been enough publicity over the years about the toxic flammibility of plastic that even a Richmond school board member should know better (or other school employee if board members don’t provide oversight about what goes in a playground).
There’ve certainly been enough playground fires at Richmond schools to have prompted at least one school board member/policy maker to make policy…to address things like flammable playground equipment and shredded-tire “mulch.”
Maybe Grenfell will come to mind when new or replacement things like sliding boards are purchased.
Or maybe not.

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Chris Harnish 08/13/2017 at 12:42 PM

One comment about installing an all metal playground. Seriously, that’s a terrible idea making the park unusable through most of the year due to scalding or frozen metal.Real problems need real solutions.

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