Emergency siren test set for Friday

PROVIDENCE — If you hear sirens Friday that sound like the end of the world, don’t worry, it is only a test.

But if you hear the sirens’ loud tone when it’s not the first test or one of the annual tests hereafter, you are strongly advised to listen to a voice giving instructions and take immediate action, because the Port of Providence Emergency Siren Warning System will sound only for life-threatening emergencies.

Examples would be a terrorism attack, a chemical disaster or a weather event such as a tornado for which little or no early warning was possible.

Blizzards or hurricanes do not qualify for activating the system, the Providence Emergency Management Agency said in announcing Friday’s test, which will be from noon to 1 p.m.

New sirens are in place at the Johnson & Wales University Harborside Campus, Allens Avenue at Public Street, Allens Avenue at Ernest Street and near Silver Spring Golf Course on Pawtucket Avenue in East Providence.

Brown University installed a similar warning system in 2008, the city’s emergency management Web site says.

To sign up for alerts, go to www.readyprov.com/alert_center.php. To hear a simulation of the tone, go to www.readyprov.com/Emergency_Sirens%20.php

— Donita Naylor

Reward offered in bathroom fire at school

CRANSTON — A $5,000 reward is being offered for information leading to the arrest of the person or persons believed to have set on fire a boys’ bathroom at Stadium Elementary School Thursday morning, school officials said.

No students were injured in the fire, which forced the evacuation of the school.

Fire officials would not comment on whether any firefighters had been injured.

“I’m not about to divulge that information,” said Deputy Fire Chief Jeff Wall, adding that commenting on any firefighters’ injuries was a “HIPAA issue,” referring to the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, which restricts access to certain health information for privacy reasons.

The school is expected to reopen Friday, though the boys’ bathroom will remain out of commission as state and local fire officials continue to investigate the fire, said Raymond L. Votto Jr., the school district’s chief operating officer.

While fire officials have not publicly called the fire arson, Votto confirmed Thursday afternoon the district sent a notice to parents informing them of the reward the state Fire Marshal’s Office was offering due to the “suspicious” nature of the fire.

The fire was reported around 10:30 a.m. and caused mostly smoke damage throughout the one-story building, according to Votto.

School officials activated the crisis response team, which includes social workers and school psychologists, and evacuated the students and school staff to the Hugh B. Bain Middle School by bus, Votto said. Stadium has an enrollment of 345 students, Votto said. He didn’t have Thursday’s attendance numbers.

Students were dismissed at their usual time and had to walk back to the elementary school, with a police escort, where they boarded their buses or were picked up by parents, Votto said.

Firefighters vented the elementary school and tested the air quality before clearing the building. A crew was called in to clean the building for its expected Friday reopening, said Votto.

— Maria Armental

Allens Ave. railroad repairs prompt detour

Repairs to the railroad crossing at Allens Avenue in Providence will require a detour starting at 9 a.m. Friday, the Rhode Island Department of Transportation has announced.

Local traffic will be able to access businesses near the work zone, just north of Terminal Road and the Port of Providence, but through traffic will be diverted onto Ernest Street, Eddy Street and Oxford Street until 5 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 27.

Crews from the DOT and the Providence and Worcester Railroad Company will work 12-hour days, depending on the weather, to install a new rubber crossing, continuous welded rails without joints, and new railroad crossing lights and asphalt.

Repairs were needed because the reinforced steel panels and underlying wooden shims that support the railroad tracks had deteriorated. The road was especially compromised in the middle southbound lane, a RIDOT press release said.

Motorists are asked to use other routes if they want to avoid delays caused by the detour.

— Donita Naylor

West Kingston principal honored

SOUTH KINGSTOWN — Nancy A. Nettik, principal of the West Kingston Elementary School, has been named Rhode Island’s National Distinguished Principal by the National Association of Elementary School Principals.

Nettik has led the West Kingston Elementary School through a dramatic transition that began in 2005, when the South Road School closed and children living in a low-income housing project were shifted to her building, doubling the proportion of disadvantaged enrollment to 17 percent.

Nettik, who has a bachelor’s degree from Western Montana College and a master’s degree from Montana State University, also has worked as a school principal in Montana.

The NAESP will honor Nettik and 62 other school principals from across the nation at an awards banquet in Washington on Friday.

— Gina Macris