School District 89 officials are still assessing the damage from Friday’s fire at Briar Glen Elementary School in Wheaton, though it’s not clear yet whether the blaze will affect the opening of school.

Eight classrooms were damaged — at least four of them significantly — during the Friday afternoon fire, which started on the roof at the southern end of the building.

Investigators believe it began accidentally when a work crew doing repairs ignited some chemicals.

The fire did not spread into the building, but it did puncture the roof, causing significant smoke and water damage in several classrooms, District 89 officials said. The water damage was made even worse by this weekend’s thunderstorms. Workers have since resealed the roof.

In the worst cases, classrooms suffered collapsed ceiling tiles and were left with water on the floors and soaking desks, bookcases and electronics. The library media center and music room also sustained water damage.

Most, if not all, of the computers in the southern part of the building will have to be replaced, District 89 officials said, and now there is concern about whether humidity from the water damage affected electronics in other parts of the building.

No one was in the building when the fire began at noon Friday. The blaze was under control less than an hour after firefighters arrived on the scene, district officials said.
A few firefighters were treated for unspecified injuries on the scene and released. No one had to be hospitalized.

The cleanup effort began Friday evening, and on Tuesday many teachers were able to get back into the building for the first time to sort through the damage.

Portable storage units were set up to collect whatever was salvageable from the classrooms, and Dumpsters were brought in for everything else. More than 30 teachers were on hand Tuesday to help with the effort.

“The progress has been nothing short of remarkable,” said District 89 spokeswoman Cheryl Myer.

Even teachers whose classrooms were spared contributed to the effort.

“Mine is OK, but you know, it’s our school, and it’s still our home,” said fourth-grade teacher Jessica Bainter.

But restoring the building will take more than a few days’ cleanup work.Myer said there will need to be repairs to the ceiling ducts, and damage to the ceiling tiles in a kindergarten room will require asbestos repair over at least a few days, she said.

“We’re certainly doing everything we can to open school on the 27th (of August) or as close to it as we can,” she said.

The School Board is expected to schedule a meeting in the next several days to discuss the damage and the timeline of restoring the building.