BRADLEY COUNTY, ARKANSAS, Ark. — A fire damaged Warren High School on Wednesday night and for parents like Sandy Gavin, she's now wondering 'what's next?'
"I was just in shock at first and I'm a crier, so the tears started," Gavin said.
After the fire, those with Warren School District released a statement online detailing the specifics of the fire, along with thanking those in surrounding areas.
For those in this community, Warren High School is more than just a simple brick building-- it holds a lot of great moments within it.
"I have so many memories. Good memories," Gavin said.
Those memories span back to her younger days as she remembers walking the halls with friends to attend class back in the day.
"It's just a very special place for me," Gavin said.
And while it's been some time since she walked through the halls, some of her fondest memories still exist today.
"It's a testament to our class of 1978 and how much we thought of the school," Gavin said.
Some of those memories are now a part of the destruction from Wednesday's fire.
"It just got worse and worse and worse and all these fire trucks came and it was crazy," said Weston Gavin, Sandy's son and junior at Warren High School.
According to the city's fire chief, the fire started around 6:00 p.m. Wednesday evening.
This fire poses yet another problem for he and his classmates. Like countless students across the country, he's already had to adjust his way of life during the pandemic, now this fire damage presents a new hurdle.
Now with classes virtual, he said things will be far from normal.
"You watch all these movies, and you don't have the perfect high school life experience and I'll never have that now," Weston said.
Weston has lived in Warren all of his life and said that he knows the strength of the community.
"We've went through worse stuff than this and so we'll be able to come back out of this stronger," Weston said.
That's something that Gregg Reep, former mayor and current Sales Manager at the Saline River Chronicle, knows all too well.
"We'll get something put back, or repair however we need to do it and we'll still be here," Reep said.