WHS stadium repair underway

The partially rebuilt Wahkiakum High school bleachers are almost finished and should be ready for the first Junior Varsity game this fall.

“We had insurance so it covered all the damage to the bleachers,” said School Superintendent, Bob Garrett. “We called for bids early in June and accepted a bid submitted by Five Rivers Construction from Longview.”

Garrett said the cost to repair the bleachers will run about $106,000 and there will probably be one change order to correct a architectural design flaw that had to do with how the press box that sits on top of the bleachers is being replaces.

“A structural engineer made changes to deal with earthquake stability on the structure,” said school maintenance supervisor, Bob McClintock, “and that added cost after the bid was accepted.”

The bleachers are being restored with no changes except in areas that couldn’t be matched. “Everything is exactly the same,” said McClintock, “except a little over half the roof was damaged and they couldn’t match it so they had to put all new roof sheeting on.”

The District had hoped to expand the press area on top of the bleachers but found the improvements too costly. “We found that a load-bearing wall wasn’t strong enough to hold the extra weight,” said Garrett.

“Yea it didn’t meet the seismic requirements, too much weight up on top so we had to keep it exactly the same,” said McClintock

The stadium’s concession stand remains under the north corner of the building and hand railings that comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act are being installed on all the bleacher stairs.

A fire was set under the bleachers sometime around 5pm Saturday, March 21. The blaze destroyed one-third of the stadium’s wooden bleachers at the north end and weakened adjoining timbers, “The Cathlamet fire department arrived shortly after the fire and put it out,” said Garrett.

Garrett said the fire was a suspected arson and Chathlamet Fire Department did the initial investigation. Later the evidence was turned over to the Sheriff’s department and the investigation is on going.