Thursday, March 26, 2015

EXPLOSIONS AND FIRES DURING EDUCATIONAL DEMONSTRATIONS ARE ON THE RISE: CHEMICAL REACTION DURING SCIENCE EXPERIMENTS TRIGGERS FIRE AT SANDBURG MIDDLE SCHOOL IN ELMHURST, ILLINOIS





MARCH 25, 2015

ELMHURST, ILLINOIS

A fire Wednesday morning in a Sandburg Middle School science classroom damaged ceiling tiles, class supplies and audio-video equipment, but no one was injured.

The Elmhurst Fire Department responded to a fire alarm at 9:45 a.m. March 25 at the school, according a city news release.

Firefighters found heavy smoke coming from the first-floor science classroom. All students and staff had been evacuated and accounted for.

The fire, which investigators believe was caused by a chemical reaction, was put out by an automatically activated sprinkler system, the release stated.

Fire department personnel cleaned up the area, replaced the activated sprinkler head and they ventilated the area with a smoke ejector.

The estimated cost of the damage is $11,000.