Wheaton school start in jeopardy after fire

A Friday fire atop Briar Glen Elementary School in Wheaton put its Aug. 27 back-to-school start in jeopardy.

At least four classrooms in one wing were substantially damaged by smoke, water and fire. And officials suspect another four rooms were seriously damaged.

Hours after the fire, the school's library was still under five inches of water. Authorities said up to half the 53,800-square-foot building sustained smoke and water damage.

The fire started just past noon when a crew from Olsson Roofing Co. in Aurora was working on a complete roof restoration that was more than half complete, said John Perdue, Glen Ellyn Elementary District 89 superintendent.

Apparently, someone working on the roof was refilling a hand-tool with gasoline when some of the gas spilled and caught fire, said Capt. Jeff Benda of the Wheaton Fire Department. The flames rapidly spread, not only across the roof, but to a garbage-hauling truck beside the school and to new materials being stored atop the building at 1800 Briarcliffe Blvd.

That's where the bulk of the damage happened - at the piles stacked on the south side of the roof.

"It was very windy," Benda said. "The roof was open, and there's a lot of roofing material there."

Plumes of black smoke were visible for miles for nearly an hour.

Investigators so far have ruled the fire accidental, Benda said.

Perdue said the school, built in 1971, essentially was constructed in four "pods," each containing groupings of classes. The one that appears to have been hit the hardest contained two kindergarten rooms, a music class and another room for art.

The four other rooms that officials suspect took heavy damage are used for first grade and special education classes.

Unfortunately, Perdue said they can't even begin to speculate on how long it will take to restore the school until a detailed inspection is made.

Board President Lori Gaspar toured the school with Perdue and insurance inspectors late Friday. She said that while there was standing water in the library, it seems the books were spared damage. The restoration company already is cleaning up the building and is bringing in large storage containers to remove the books and all teachers' resource materials as quickly as possible, Gaspar said.

There are four vacant classrooms in the school, and it's possible those could help teach students displaced by the damage. However, officials will have to make that decision as the restoration work continues, Gaspar said.

"Our number one priority as a board is the safety of kids," she said.

The district was in the midst of three large projects at the school that needed to be completed before students return: the roof restoration; replacement of the school parking lot; and replacement of the cafeteria tables. All of those jobs obviously are on hold, now, as well.

Over the next week or two, Perdue said school officials will need to "determine what our options will be" for returning students - whether that's moving some temporarily to another school, using mobile classrooms, delaying the start of school or a combination of all three plus other options.

Parent Leslie Compere said the community knows the situation is difficult and awaits the district's decision so they can make plans ­­- then decide how to pitch in and help.

"If we have to clean it out, we'll do that. If we have to paint, we'll paint. That's what parents do. We're just waiting to be told what they need us to do," said Compere, the secretary of the Briar Glen Parent Teacher Council.

Compere lives down the street from the school and said it was frightening to have such a large building on fire in the residential neighborhood.

She said she's confident that officials will get word to parents quickly.

"They'll do the best they can to get things moving," she said.

Residents this spring approved the sale of $24.8 million in loans to renovate buildings across District 89 and the first phase of that plan was the replacement of school roofs this summer. Olsson was hired to work on two of the schools, Briar Glen and Park View, for $1.3 million. Calls to Olsson were not returned Friday.