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Our thanks to Ron Slover
who was News Director at KFDA-TV for several years.
Ron commented "that the camera and equipment
wasn't at all what it is today. I was at the scene
for 12 straight hours and the looks of the
students and former students was heart warming.
They were determined to get the prized trophies
out of the building, including the trophy cases.
Some were crying and others just had looks of
sheer determination as they entered in heavy smoke
and exited from the main entrance of Amarillo High
School.
Jim Sands of the
Amarillo Globe News and myself were walking around
the hallway in the early morning hours. While we
and the firemen were still looking for the source
of the fire, an explosion of such force took place
that it knocked both of us up off the floor."
Ron preserved the film
and made it available to our class. Ron is
an active member of the Reunion Committee.
THE
FIRE
In
1970, on an early Sunday morning in March, a fire
raged through the building. It first began in a
second story storeroom, caused by a overheated
boiler below, and soon spread to damage nearly all
of the structure and destroy most of the property
inside. Several courageous, yet foolish students
arrived on the scene first and began removing
textbooks, trophies, class gifts, art pieces and
other artifacts from the burning building.
Fortunately, no one was injured in the fire. The
damage was estimated at the time to be nearly 2
million dollars.
The
approximately 1,700 Amarillo High School students
spent the remainder of the year in makeshift classes
set up in nearby Churches and the undamaged school
gymnasiums and armory. The experience created a bond
among the students, who were grateful not to be
farmed out to another high schools in the area.
Renovations in the burned out building accommodated
students for the next three years until a new high
school could be built.
As I choose to remember...
AMARILLO HIGH SCHOOL - 1956 |
