The Hamilton Square campus of St. Gregory the Great Roman Catholic Church will undergo a complete security overhaul in an effort to prevent any further incidents after a suspicious and unsolved fire destroyed the parish school’s playground in early September.

The Rev. Ian Trammell wrote in the Sept. 13 edition of the parish bulletin that he would work with parish and school staff at St. Gregory’s to update the current security equipment on the campus and install new surveillance where it does not exist currently. He said further details about the plan would emerge in the coming weeks, as soon as they were set.

St. Gregory the Great School principal Joan Pramberger confirmed the new security plans and added that the school had been updating its equipment gradually, one piece at a time as the budget allowed. The new plan would be a simultaneous and complete change of security equipment inside and outside all the campus buildings.

“That’s big,” Pramberger said. “It’s a huge project. But [Trammell] feels like it’s time.”

On top of the security upgrades, the cost of new playground equipment also faces St. Gregory’s administration. Estimates keep rising, Pramberger said, with the total cost now more than $40,000. It would cost the school more than $7,000 just to replace the rubber mulch that would surround the playground.

The school PTA funded the now-destroyed playground about eight years ago. It cost $36,000 to install both the equipment and the rubber mulch, which Pramberger said school officials chose because it is softer and has more bounce than traditional woodchips.

Insurance payments will play a role in what the school decides to do, but Pramberger said students and the community have decided to lend a hand unprompted. Some students have created lemonade stands and other small businesses, with the profits going to a new playground. Others have come into the school office carrying bags of change. Local businesses like Friendly’s, ShopRite and Wendy’s have offered to host fundraising nights, with a portion of the money spent those evenings going to St. Gregory’s.

It seems both the community and the authorities are moving on.

District 7 Fire Marshall Scott McCormick said Sept. 3 the Hamilton police labeled the incident “suspicious,” and were still investigating how the fire started on a cool, cloudless 64-degree night. There are no wires or utilities near the playground, McCormick said, meaning the fire had to be set.

Nothing had changed a few weeks later, and McCormick indicated authorities were near closing the case without finding a perpetrator due to a lack of information. No one came forward to volunteer information about the cause of the fire, stunting the investigation. McCormick said anyone with leads should call the Hamilton police at (609) 581-4100.
Police did start interviewing the residents who live in the neighborhood next to the St. Gregory the Great property, as well as people on the scene, Sept. 2.

Huge flames engulfed the school playground on the campus of St. Gregory the Great that night, sending swirling smoke into the air that was visible for miles. Nottingham Fire Company Chief Gary Dempster said he saw the column of smoke coming from playground before even receiving a call about the fire.

Nottingham Fire Company sent multiple fire trucks to the site at the back of the church’s property along Nottingham Way. Hamilton police also responded. Responders put the fire out quickly, using layer upon layer of foam to kill the flames. Neighbors and church members who heard the news flocked to see the fire, which took place at the property’s front playground alongside the all-purpose community building parishioners call the parish center.

Hamilton resident Pedro Pizarro was walking toward the parish center for a meeting a little after 7:30 p.m. when he saw a small fire starting beneath the playground. He said he ran into the meeting to ask for a fire extinguisher while a woman in the meeting called the police to report the incident. By the time Pizarro ran back out to the playground, large flames surrounded the equipment. He guessed the entire sequence took him five minutes, in which time the fire became too large to control with just a fire extinguisher.

“It’s a shame,” he said. “I don’t get it. It had to be done quick. Rubber does burn, but this was quick. I don’t know. Maybe there was some kind of accelerant.”

The fire completely melted the recycled rubber mulch around the playground. The slide was twisted and shriveled. A lump of burnt, black material rested where steps once stood. A pungent smell wafted through the air.

Pramberger saw the fire from her office window about 7:30 p.m. as she worked on final preparations for the school year. The incident came less than a week before St. Gregory the Great School opened for the 2009-2010 academic year. The K-8 institution had its first day Sept. 8. The start of school was not delayed because of the fire.

“When I looked out the window and saw black smoke, I ran,” she said. “I had no idea that was what I was going to see.”

Pramberger said watching the fire upset her greatly, but she found herself in a more optimistic place the morning after the incident. She joked school administrators and teachers would have to get creative on how to entertain the children during recess now that the playground will be off-limits for a while.

“It was upsetting to think about who would do something like that,” she said the day after the incident. “But no one was hurt, and the buildings weren’t damaged.”