No one injured in small fire at Glenbard East

No injuries were reported after a small fire broke out Tuesday afternoon at Glenbard East High School in Lombard.

The fire started shortly before 2 p.m. in Rider Hall, the smaller of Glenbard East’s two auditoriums, Glenbard High School District 87 officials said.

One of the curtains caught fire, although it was fire resistant, and created a lot of smoke with a small fire near the bottom of the curtain, Lombard Fire Battalion Chief Jeff Holst said.

Holst applauded the quick actions of whoever extinguished the flames and pulled the fire alarm, and said it could have easily spread quickly and became a very serious fire.

“(The smoke) was really seriously thick inside,” he said. “You couldn’t walk around without an air pack on.”

No students were in danger, and the blaze was extinguished before the fire department responded, officials said.

Students and staff inside the school were safely evacuated.

District spokeswoman Peg Mannion said in an email that the Lombard Fire Department is trying to determine what caused the fire.

Students were able to return to most of the school on Tuesday afternoon.