News Photo by Reagan Voetberg On Thursday, All Saints Catholic School Principal Melissa Doubek showed where they had to widen a hallway so it would meet current fire safety standards.

ALPENA — All Saints Catholic School moved into a new building this school year, only to find out it would need some extra work.

They had grown out of their old building located on the North side of town, Principal Melissa Doubek said. The school moved to their new location at St. John Catholic Church of All Saints parish to expand their space.

The building was just sitting there unused, she said, so it made sense to move in.

Renovation work started on the building two years ago. When the school moved in for the 2024-2025 school year, they were told by fire safety inspectors that the building would need some improvements to meet current regulations.

Funds for the original renovation of the school were raised in a capital campaign launched in 2023 at All Saints Parish. However, the $400,000 spent on fire safety improvements was an unanticipated cost.

“The parish had to foot the bill for that,” Doubek said.

Some of the costs were covered by funds that the parish was planning to use to renovate a space to house their priests, she said.

The school’s fire safety upgrades were completed this week.

Doubek walked through the building and explained various improvements they had to make. For instance, they had to add garage-like fire doors to the glass windows separating the foyer from the church’s sanctuary. The doors will be connected to the alarm system and automatically close when the alarm goes off.

The glass was not fire-rated and would have been too expensive for the school to replace, Doubek said. The drop-down doors were much more affordable.

Separating the different areas of the school, workers had to put up a temporary wall while they were making necessary improvements. Staff and students had to cut a path through the gym in order to get to the other side of the school while the wall was up, but it is now removed.

Fire doors in the hallway are equipped with magnetic release systems. They will also close automatically once connected to the alarm system.

One wall had to be moved back to widen a hallway to meet safety requirements.

In the cafeteria, workers had to put in straight bone fire suppressant insulation in certain spots as well as spray around pipes with fire suppressant insulation spray in places without concrete as protection.

“Concrete has to go all the way up to the ceiling, it has to be a complete barrier,” Doubek said.

Each classroom has a door that exits straight outside for easy access in case of a fire emergency.

“Right from the get-go, our building was one of the safer elementary schools in the area, because we have so much concrete,” Doubek said. “We were safe to begin with, but now we’re really safe.”