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Carihi Fire Restoration Update

Monday, June 23, 2025 at 7:23 AM

By Jay Herrington

(PHOTO Campbell River School District - SD72 Facebook)

Carihi Secondary will be a busy spot this summer as School District 72 continues repairs, installs temporary learning spaces, and prepares for long-term restoration following the fire earlier in the school year.

Superintendent Geoff Manning says repairs to Carihi’s gymnasium are high on the list of summer priorities. Crews will focus on repairs to the exterior wall and roof to ensure the gym is watertight by September.

This will allow interior restoration to move ahead in the fall, with a hopeful reopening timeline of January.

Two classrooms beneath the gym, farther from the origin of the fire, are expected to be fully restored and ready for students by the start of the school year.

Four new portables will also be installed over the summer between F Wing and C Wing, in the former parking area.

To address space needs because of enrollment growth, at least one additional portable (possibly two) will also be moved from within the district to a location behind E Wing, near the office, and should be operational by September.

Manning also said the culinary program will return to Carihi in the fall with the purchase of a commercial camp kitchen that will be installed in the lower west parking lot, between the gym and the daycare.

The program had temporarily relocated to North Island College.

Summer work will include early-stage site preparation at the original fire location.

While timelines are always subject to delays, the operations team says it is “moving forward with determination” to ensure Carihi is well prepared for September, and to hopefully have the gym back in full use for January.

For highlights from the June 17, 2025 public meeting of the CRSD72 Board of Education, visit School District - SD72.

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The word "éy7á7juuthem" means “Language of our People” and is the ancestral tongue of the Homalco, Tla’amin, Klahoose and K’ómoks First Nations, with dialectic differences in each community.

It is pronounced "eye-ya-jooth-hem."