Glenbard S. classes to resume today

Glenbard South High School is scheduled to reopen this morning, a day after a small fire.

Classes Thursday were canceled after the school lost power about 4:45 p.m. Wednesday due to what officials thought was a transformer failure.

An auxiliary generator immediately came on, providing light to the hallways of the largely windowless building, said Terri Hanrahan, the school's principal.

The generator fed to a flue pipe that overheated around 1 a.m., sparking a fire in the insulation over a maintenance garage, Lisle-Woodridge Deputy Fire Chief Keith Kreston said.

Fire alarms didn't go off because the building didn't have power, Hanrahan said. Kreston said ComEd crews working outside noticed the fire and called police.

The Lisle-Woodridge firefighters were assisted by crews from Wheaton and Downers Grove. The flames were extinguished in about 15 minutes. No one was injured.

"It was a very, very minor incident," Kreston said.

The flue pipe should have been able to handle the heat, he said.

"It's designed to, but sometimes things happen," Kreston said.

Meanwhile, ComEd crews determined that three fuses in a transformer on Butterfield Road had blown, Hanrahan said. When the fuses were replaced, power was restored to the school.

ComEd is still trying to figure out why the fuses broke, spokesman Jeff Burdick said.

Electrical wiring within the school has been checked and is fine, Hanrahan said.

By mid-afternoon Thursday, Glenbard High School District 87's own architectural engineering crew had checked for smoke-related issues, she said. It deemed Glenbard South's fire alarm and overall safety system as in good working order, Hanrahan said.

Compliance officers from the DuPage Regional Office of Education will have the final say on whether the school is safe.

Today is an early dismissal day.

The school is asking parents and students to check Glenbard South's Web site, www.glenbard.net/glenbard_south, for updates.