Grayslake charter school fire still under investigation

Grayslake Fire Protection District investigators on Wednesday were still trying to determine what caused a blaze in a Prairie Crossing Charter School classroom last weekend.

Deputy Chief Greg Formica said a sprinkler system was activated and spraying water on flames when firefighters responded to an alarm at 6:54 p.m. Saturday. No one was in the building.

“It kept what could have been a huge fire pretty small,” Formica said of the sprinkler system in the Anna Comstock building.

Formica said investigators removed some items from a teacher’s third-grade classroom where the fire started. He said officials hope to know the cause of the fire by the end of the week.

Some small reptiles that were in a terrarium in the Comstock building’s east side were found unharmed, Formica said.

Classes that resumed Tuesday for kindergarten through fourth grade were moved to Prairie Crossing’s gymnasium, barn and other areas, school officials said in an email to parents. Friday is the last day of school for this academic year.

Officials said the post-fire cleanup in the Comstock building is expected to last for several weeks. Prairie Crossing’s eighth-graders are set to graduate at 7 p.m. Thursday.

With a 392-student enrollment capacity, Prairie Crossing is an environmentally focused public choice school. Parents of children at Woodland Elementary District 50 and Fremont Elementary District 79 may send their children to Prairie Crossing.

Prairie Crossing serves kindergarten through eighth grade. Illinois’ per-pupil financial aid follows Woodland and Fremont children to Prairie Crossing, which opened in 1999 and determines enrollment by lottery.