On Thursday, a small fire on the roof of Naperville North High School forced summer school to end early for the day.
Fire during routine roof maintenance
According to a press release from the Naperville Fire Department, the school’s cafeteria began filling with smoke after the blaze from above started during routine roof maintenance, shortly after noon. That’s when an administrator contacted the fire department.
Naperville School District 203‘s Director of Communications Alex Mayster says all students and staff immediately evacuated the building safely and families were notified. Roughly 800 students were inside at the time.
Cause and damages of Naperville North fire
The press release states that firefighters arrived within five minutes of the call and had the fire extinguished another six minutes later.
It was later determined that a maintenance worker with a torch accidentally lit a nearby combustible, causing the fire, which was confined to a HVAC unit. It’s estimated that the incident has caused about $15,000 in damage but the city’s Transportation, Engineering and Development – or TED – team has determined the building remains habitable. There were no injuries to firefighters or workers reported.
Mayster says all activities at Naperville North High School are done for the day, but summer school classes are expected to resume tomorrow as normal.
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